Adele concert: Brisbane woman claims she was fat shamed at Gabba event

IT WAS one of the biggest concerts Australia has seen and, for one Brisbane woman, it was worth enduring the queues and long wait to see Adele live. But then the elbows started flying.

Adele in concert Brisbane, at the Gabba. Picture: Steve Pohlner

A BRISBANE woman claims she was fat-shamed and then assaulted while watching Adele perform at the Gabba on Sunday night.

Victoria Point resident Leisa Bennett, who is a size 22, told The Courier-Mail that it was ironic that she was fat-shamed in front of a performer who is “the poster girl for larger women”.

Seated in section 15, MT, Ms Bennett noticed there were issues when the lady next to her, who herself was not the leanest, started arm stretching.

By the time Adele launched into her fifth song Rumour Has It, the lady launched into Ms Bennett with a tirade of abuse.

Leisa Bennett (second from left) with (from left to right) her sisters Rebecca and Ellen, and friend Jamie.

“She was middled-aged (sic) and she was squirming around … I was thinking about her discomfort and how can I make her more comfortable because she kept flapping her dress around and asked me to stand up so she could seat herself,” Ms Bennett said.

Ms Bennett said a young security guard tried his best but the lady “yelled and yelled” at him and eventually police were called and half a dozen boys in blue turned up followed by two detectives.

“Security was terrible, really. The police called for back-up and it was overkill … I’m thinking, ‘oh my god, I just want the ground to swallow me up, this is ridiculous’,” she said.

“A very large police officer told me they were going to organise me two new seats and ‘it’s just one of those things’”.

A screengrab of the post on Leisa Marie Bennett's Facebook page.

Ms Bennett’s troubles would have been avoided had the woman she clashed with accepted her generous offer to swap seats with her sisters, Rebecca and Ellen, who were in a more expensive section closer to the stage at ground level.

“We would have been happy to work something and even change seats and we’d sit out on the aisle to make it more comfortable ... we’d even suggested before it started that she could sit down on the grass closer to the stage and she wasn’t up to that,” she said.

“She seemed nice to start with but it all changed. She was almost stretching in to my face continually and there were deliberate elbow nudges and that’s when I thought this isn’t right now, she’s actually assaulting me.

“I asked her to stop elbowing me and that’s when she cut loose and started yelling in my face, threatening me and calling me stuff.”

Adele’s Brisbane concert was soured for local woman Leisa Marie Bennett who says she endured abuse at the hands of the woman seated next to her. Picture: Glenn Hunt/Getty Images

Ms Bennett only bought her $233 ticket on Saturday night after listening to Saturday night’s show from outside the venue and attended the show with one of her sister’s friends.

“I only bought the tickets on Saturday night because I realised the only reason I am not going to this concert is because I bury things behind my weight,” she said.

Instead of relaying her experience to her sisters on the way home, Ms Bennett said she wrote about her incident on Facebook.

She said it was her way of processing the evening.

The response on her Facebook page has been “amazing”.

“I feel like I have had a virtual hug,” Ms Bennett told The Courier-Mail.

One friend commented, “What a bitch she was and I am so sorry you had to endure such rude and boorish behaviour and insults. Karma will come for her!”

In five weeks’ time, Ms Bennett is having a gastric sleeve operation and hopes that will put an end to her being fat-shamed in public although she said no one should ever be treated like she was.