Celebrities
Harriet Brewis
Feb 05, 2024
What's Trending / VideoElephant
Where Matt Rife goes, controversy follows. And this time, it took the form of a retired porn star being led away in handcuffs.
No, this wasn’t some kind of weird sketch, but an incident involving adult film legend Lisa Ann.
Ann, 51, was at Rife’s standup comedy gig in New York on Sunday night when she was apparently dragged out of the show.
Footage of the moment, which the blue movie star later shared to X/Twitter, showed her being led out of Radio City Music Hall by two police officers.
Turning to the camera, she said indignantly: "I did nothing wrong. I didn’t touch my phone. I wanted to see Matt Rife ‘cause he's a friend of mine, and I go to jail.”
The 51-year-old, who hosts a podcast titled ‘The Lisa Ann Experience’, insisted in a caption to the clip that this episode was not a “bit” and that she had, indeed, been arrested.
In a follow-up post, uploaded three hours after the first, she posted a series of photos of herself staring at the camera, hands cuffed behind her back, as one cop clutched a black leather handbag.
Alongside the images she wrote: “When [the NYPD] tells you / your purse is not yours, you have no rights, if you think different you get 51/50 in the hospital.”
“51/10” refers to a California law which enables the temporary and involuntary commitment into a psychiatric facility of an individual who presents a danger to themselves or others.
Ann then added a further update, alleging: “Tonight I was arrested and [harassed] by the NYPD - they offered me a choice to be 51/50 by ambulance & admitted to the hospital - or arrested [and] put in jail over someone thinking I used my phone during the @mattrife show.
“I’m at loss of words for what I just endured .. traumatic, unnecessary and extreme are topping my list of emotions.”
The latter post racked up almost half a million views in just four hours, as commentators shared their shock at Ann’s treatment.
“Oh! My! God! Girl, being manhandled by the cops is never appropriate and I’m confused as a former copy myself why the NYPD really needed four cops either? one wrote.
“Sure appears excessive over a simple phone issue, like who arrests someone for something like that versus security shoulder…!”
“As a New Yorker I’m sorry that this happened to you. NYPD should be more focused on real crimes happening in the city,” said another.
Meanwhile others, inevitably, made questionable jokes about the situation.
“My favorite videos of you are always the ones when you’re in handcuffs,” one wrote.
“We all are imagining how it panned out though,” said a second.
Lisa Ann rebranded herself from porn star to podcaster(@threallisaann/Instagram)
Others suggested the incident was proof that no good can come out of supporting Rife.
“The only crime I see here is if you actually paid money to see [Matt Rife],” one wrote.
"I feel like anyone who willingly goes to a matt rife show, deserves to be put in prison," quipped another.
Elsewhere, others suggested there was more to the situation than Ann was letting on.
One wrote: “From what others are saying who were at the show, you caused a scene, were obnoxiously loud and asked to leave. Then caused a bigger scene when they came and got you.”
Suffice it to say, no one on social media has been able to prove what actually went down but, for once, Rife wasn’t the one raising the eyebrows.
The 28-year-old comic is known for making tasteless and provocative remarks, and recently came under fire for joking about domestic violence during his Netflix special.
But he doesn’t seem too phased by the criticism levelled against him, telling Tana Mongeau ( for her podcast CANCELLED) back in November: "So many f**king people hate me for really no reason.”
He then added: “It really made me realise that people only hate somebody they're jealous of."
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