Actor and author Stephen Fry rushed to hospital after falling off stage during CogX Festival

NZ Herald

20 Sep, 2023 07:55 PM2 mins to read

The Hobbit star Stephen Fry has taken a fall after giving a speech at London's O2 Arena. Photo / Getty Images

British actor Stephen Fry has been rushed to hospital.

The 66-year-old star was exiting the stage after giving a speech at an AI and tech festival yesterday at the O2 Arena in London, when he missed a step and tumbled off the 2m-high stage, The Sun reports.

Fry – who has starred in two Hobbit movies which were filmed in New Zealand – reportedly sustained minor injuries including on his leg and rib.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, a source who saw the aftermath of the accident said the broadcaster and comedian was stabilised at the event before he was taken away in a wheelchair.

“It looked like it was too dark and there didn’t look like there was a handrail.” They said adding, “He fell two metres to the floor”.

Elsewhere, the London Ambulance Service said in a statement issued to the news outlet: “We were called today at 11.31am to reports of an incident at the O2 Arena, in Peninsula Square”.

“We sent a medic in a fast-response car, an ambulance crew, and an incident response officer to the scene.” adding, “We treated a man for rib and leg injuries before taking him to hospital.”

The star was a guest speaker at the CogX Festival which had over 500 speakers and approximately 90,000 guests. Organisers of the event have since released a statement revealing they have launched an inquiry and wish Fry a “swift” recovery.

It comes after the actor revealed in 2018 that he had spent two months secretly battling prostate cancer.

In a 12 minute video released on Twitter (now X), he told fans, “For the last 2 months I’ve been in the throes of a rather unwelcome and unexpected adventure.

“I’m sorry I haven’t felt able to talk about it till now, but here I am explaining what has been going on.” He continued to say he had surgery in the first week of January and is now cancer free as it “doesn’t seem to have spread”.