Peter Kay has broken his silence after kicking three hecklers out of his Manchester gig on Saturday and claimed they were spoiling the show for the rest of the audience.
The comedian, 51, said there becomes a point where it's 'no longer fair' to the crowd who have paid to see him and also defended calling one woman Emmerdale actress Lisa Riley before evicting her from the AO arena, reports GMB.
In a statement given to the ITV show, he said: 'I didn't realise it was an insult. She did look remarkably like Lisa Riley, I didn't realise that was an insult.'
Hosts Susanna Reid and Ed Balls revealed that Mr Kay had told them overnight 'he felt he had no option but to remove the hecklers as they were spoiling the show'.
They reported that the rest of his statement read: 'There comes a point when dealing with repeated hecklers simply isn't enough. It's not something you ever want to do but it becomes a point when it's no longer fair to everyone around.'
Lisa has now shown her support for the under fire star as she told her fans she 'loves Peter Kay to pieces' and said his joke was a 'laugh' in new Instagram posts.
On Tuesday morning on an Instagram Story post, she pleaded: 'Please draw a line under this now, I am not offended, never was offended. I love Peter Kay to pieces. Laughter is my favourite medicine.
Peter Kay has broken his silence after kicking three hecklers out of his Manchester gig on Saturday and claimed they were spoiling the show for the rest of the audience (pictured 2017)
One of the hecklers, Philip Peters, 54, and his son, 26, were abruptly evicted from the arena and he has since claimed he was treated 'like a terrorist' by security staff when his only crime was 'shouting garlic bread'
The soap star also shared a picture of the quote 'keep calm and laugh' and wrote in the caption: 'It's a laugh, it's funny!', as she further defended the star.
One of the hecklers, Philip Peters, 54, and his son, 26, were abruptly evicted from the arena and he has since claimed he was treated 'like a terrorist' by security staff when his only crime was 'shouting garlic bread'.
While some other attendees slammed Mr Peters, claiming he was ruining it for others, he hit back telling MailOnline: 'I just can't understand it, all I said was garlic bread'.
Initially his shout out allegedly earned him a warm reception from Mr Kay, whose cameramen zoomed in and panned the driver's face out to the crowd.
But by the second half of the show, Mr Kay had seemingly lost his patience, quickly ordering the lights to be turned on and for the heckler, as well as his son, to be led out of the building.
Mr Peters, whose tickets were bought for him by his 17-year-old daughter for Christmas, said he was left 'disgusted' by how he was treated and is now demanding an apology from the comedian.
He told MailOnline: 'It was me who shouted out 'garlic bread'. I was there with my son and they dragged us out like ragged dolls and I am now covered in bruises. A lot of people just stood up and walked out when they saw how we were dragged out.
'In the first half of the show, I shouted out 'garlic bread' and they zoomed in on the camera on me. And I put my thumbs up and thought everything was okay. I got no warning or anything, people around us were laughing and joking.
The hosts revealed that Peter had told them overnight ' he felt he had no option but to remove the hecklers and said they were spoiling the show'
'Then in the second half of the show I said it again, "garlic bread", and that's when the security guards came over to me and said 'you are going to have to leave - Peter Kay doesn't like people shouting out'.
'I said are you joking as I thought they were going to warn me off but they stood me up, brought me to the stairs, which were dead steep.
'I have massive bruises in my leg. I haven't been able to walk properly at work today. My arms are all covered in bruises.'
He also claims that the comic shouted 'you're not laughing now' as they were marched down the stairs.
Mr Peters claims six security officers handled him while another three took his son.
Once Mr Peters and his son had been taken out of the stadium police officers approached them to ask what had gone on.
But after speaking with the pair, as well as security staff, officers told the father and son to head home.
'I said [to the officers] we have just been thrown out brutally and I said all I have done is shout garlic bread,' Mr Peters added.
'If we had done anything wrong the police would have arrested us, I just can't understand it, all I said was garlic bread. That's my favourite joke of his.
Mr Peters has been left with bruises allegedly caused by security guards
'I have loved Peter Kay forever. I watched him on Car Share, I watch him on TikTok all the time and I've always wanted to see him live. I've loved watching him.'
Afterwards a woman who yelled 'we love you Peter' was also ordered to be removed by Mr Kay for disrupting the show.
As she was being removed, Mr Kay reportedly made a joke about the woman's weight by comparing her to Fat Friend's star Lisa, audience members claimed.
It led a group of audience members to leave the show before it finished as they were unhappy with the 'nasty and bitter' way hecklers were treated.
But Mr Kay fans have since backed the comic's decision to throw hecklers out of his homecoming gig, claiming the drunk troublemakers had been 'spoiling the show'.
An audience member, sitting just a few seats away from the mischief-makers, has claimed that both 'absolutely deserved' to be removed - so much so it was met with loud cheers from those sitting around him.
'The guy he chucked out absolutely deserved it,' Jo Llewellyn told MailOnline. 'He was extremely drunk even before the show started and continued to make a nuisance of himself as the show went on.
'For those of us who sat beside him he ruined the gig. And as for the lady, she was a few seats behind and the people she sat next to also commented that she had been a huge pain and was disrupting the show for others.
'I am glad Peter took a stand and removed them as the show was being spoiled for a lot of people... And if people were so offended at the hecklers being chucked out, why did the crowd near them cheer loudly when they were removed?'
Some audience members had decided to leave the show after Mr Kay ordered security to turn on all the lights when his bit about kidney stones was interrupted for the third time by the man shouting.
Once the bright lights were on, Mr Kay is said to have pulled up a chair on stage and directed his security to remove the man as well as his friends, another source told MailOnline.
At this point the heckling man, along with his son, allegedly got very abusive towards the security guards', according to witnesses.
The man was then taken out by four security guards - 'one on each leg and one on each arm'.
Mr Kay was pictured looking slimmer while heading to his tour bus while leaving London's O2 arena in January
'It wasn't a case of escorting him out, it was a case of physically removing him,' one audience member said.
As the men were escorted out of the arena, the woman sitting behind them shouted 'we love you Peter' to which he asked, 'had a drink have we?'
Mr Kay then instructed the security team to also remove the woman from the crowd before telling her 'go on, off you go Lisa Riley'.
And while some accused Mr Kay of a 'nasty and bitter' approach to hecklers, those sitting closest to the noisy crowd applauded the decision.
Another audience member said: 'I was seated near the people, and they were a pain in the backside.
'They were asked several times to be quiet as the old people near them could not hear over their heckling 'garlic bread' not just once but many times.
'We all clapped when he got rid of them and Peter in his own manner dealt with it very well. I thought he gave us what we wanted; it's what we all waited over two years for.'
A third said: 'My daughter was at that show and was glad that the people shouting were removed.
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