A former So You Think You Can Dance contestant who auditioned for the show while pregnant is recovering in a London hospital after an alleged attack involving a knife and “burning” liquid being thrown in her face.
Korra Obidi, 32, said she was filming herself for an Instagram Live when she was attacked in Central London on Tuesday. Footage of the aftermath of the alleged attack was posted to the Instagram account of the Nigerian dancer. Obidi had an appearance on the Fox competition show in 2019; her run for the show’s top honor ended during live auditions.
“Currently in an ambulance to the hospital, there was a knife, acid attack on me in the UK in the middle of a live stream,” Obidi wrote on the platform. There’s been a lot of hate in the past but this physical assault is a wake-up call.”
“Police were called just after 13:40hrs on Thursday, 11 April to reports of an assault on Maiden Lane, WC2,” London’s Metropolitan Police said in a statement ent to The Hollywood Reporter. “Officers attended and found a woman in her 30s with a cut to her hand and reporting a liquid had been thrown at her face. She was taken to hospital for treatment. The liquid was later confirmed to be a non-noxious cosmetic item. Another woman left the scene prior to police arrival.”
Footage that Obidi posted to Instagram seems to show the moments just after the attack allegedly took place on Thursday afternoon. The 32-year-old is seen in a state of duress and telling a bystander that her face was “burning” “and asking for the person’s “Coke, to wash it.”
The footage then shows her washing her face with the soft drink and a bloody yellow knife on the ground nearby. Obidi is then seen in another area from her back, as her eyes and face are washed by what appears to be two officers. One of whom asks, “Is this helping at all? Is the pain going?”
Nancy Umeh, Obidi’s sister, posted about the alleged attack on Instagram Stories ahead of her sister’s posts of the matter’s aftermath.
“Someone has threatened my sister’s life in the UK, they poured acid on my sister’s face,” Umeh said. “They threatened to stab her all over her body and they have stabbed her on her hands, just outside her Airbnb in Westminster, London.”
Obidi told followers on Instagram that her alleged attacker is a Black female who is 5 feet tall. “Black female, 5 foot.” Later in the comments section of her post, she wrote: “Guys I’m in the hospital. Safety with travel is no longer a luxury but necessity. The acid was salicylic and I was lucky. Love you guys.”
So You Think You Can Dance is produced by Dick Clark Productions, which is owned by Penske Media Eldridge, a joint venture between Penske Media Corporation and Eldridge which also owns The Hollywood Reporter.
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