Uncle Vinnie's Comedy Club wants to press charges for beer can thrown at comedian

Editor's Note: An update to this story, indicating police have declined to file charges, was published. Read more.

POINT PLEASANT BEACH - The owner of Uncle Vinnie's Comedy Club is looking to press charges after a patron hurled a beer at a comedian during a set last weekend, creating an uproar after video of the performance went viral.

A video of the incident posted to Twitter garnered more than 5.2 million views by Tuesday. In the video, a female patron heckles New York comedian Ariel Elias, asking who she voted for in 2020 presidential election. A brief dispute ensues, and when Elias turns back to continue her show, a metal beverage can be seen flying from the audience and hitting the wall behind her.

Elias picked up the can and drank it.

On Monday, she tweeted: "Putting makeup on before 11 am is so much worse than having a beer thrown at me."

Uncle Vinnie's owner Dino Ibelli said he received the beer throwers name and wants to press charges with police. Ibelli said nothing like it had ever happened at his club before.

"He ran out the door," the comedy club owner said. "We had police here (Sunday morning)."

Point Pleasant Beach police did not return multiple requests for comment.

Elias told Newsweek she left pressing charges up to the nightclub owner.

"The club is pressing charges against him," she told Newsweek. "I'm not, because in order to do that, I would have to return to Point Pleasant Beach, and I'm not doing that unless someone pays me to."

Elias is from Kentucky and has written for Will Smith’s Snapchat show "Will From Home," according to her website. She did not respond to requests for comment.

After the incident, she wrote on Twitter: "I'd really appreciate it if anyone could please just let my teachers know that chugging a beer has in fact been great for my career.

In the video, Elias pauses her routine to open up to audience questions, known as "crowd work." The video begins where the female patron heckles Elias about how she voted in the presidential election, grilling the comedian on whether she voted for Biden.

"Everyone vote for who you want. … I don't care who you voted for. I'm just happy we're all here together," Elias said during the performance.

But the heckling continued. The woman called out, "I can tell by your jokes you voted for Biden."

Elias snapped back: "I can tell by the fact you're still talking when nobody wants you to, that you voted for Trump."

Elias was steering the audience back to her act when an audience member lobbed the beer at the stage. Elias then picked up the beer up off the floor and drank it to audience applause.

The beer thrower was the heckler's husband, according to Ibelli, the comedy club owner. He was trying to intervene when incident happened, he said.

After the can hits the wall, an audience member can be heard saying, amid expletives, "I'm never coming out with this group of people again."

Famous actors and comedians tweeted in Elias's defense in the days following the incident.

Actor Elijah Wood, on Twitter, said Elias's response was "so well handled." Comedian Jim Gaffigan tweeted: "SO MANY things to say about this but the big take away is that @ariel_Comedy is super funny and total class." Comedian Patton Oswalt described her response as "rock-ribbed poise."

Amanda Oglesby is an Ocean County native who covers Brick, Barnegat and Lacey townships as well as the environment. She has worked for the Press for more than a decade. Reach her at @OglesbyAPP, aoglesby@gannettnj.com or 732-557-5701.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Point Pleasant Beach comedy club seeks charges after beer throwing