Pie Protester Lunges at Murdoch; Wife Defends

A little drama toward the end of the Rupert Murdoch hearing today: A protester lunged forward with something like a plate of shaving cream and tried to smear the News Corp chief. Murdoch's wife, Wendi Deng, jumped up to defend her 80-year-old husband from the attack, notes the Wall Street Journal live blog. Looks like she even clocked the assailant on the head, adds the Daily Dish coverage. The hearing was suspended for about 10 minutes, and the protester taken into custody. CNN says Murdoch got hit in the face by the foam, and he finished the hearing sans jacket.

A comedian and self-described "activist" named Jonnie Marbles claimed responsibility for the foamy assault on Twitter with a pre-attack tweet, notes the Daily Intel blog. He apparently shouted something along the lines of Murdoch being a greedy billionaire when he came forward during the hearing. (More Rupert Murdoch stories.)