Hugh Grant Cracks Surprise Joke About His 1995 Arrest for Lewd Conduct at Heretic Premiere: Here's What He Said

Almost 30 years after Hugh Grant's infamous 1995 arrest for lewd conduct in Los Angeles, the actor has some jokes to tell.

Grant appeared onstage at the TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood, California, on Thursday, Oct. 24, along with his Heretic costars Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East, as well as filmmaking duo Scott Beck and Bryan Woods. There, as he introduced the movie at its premiere, the 64-year-old actor obliged when Woods asked him to say a few words to the crowd before the movie began playing, per The Hollywood Reporter.

"I have nothing interesting to add to that except that it is very nice to be here. Hollywood Boulevard has always been a lucky place for me," Grant said in footage captured by THR reporter Chris Gardner. The joke — a reference to his June 27, 1995 arrest for lewd conduct with a sex worker on Sunset Boulevard — left Grant's colleagues and the audience in stitches.

"It's nice of AFI to have us, it's nice of you to show up, it's nice of these girls to be brilliant in the film, it was nice of these two weirdos to put me in it and nice of the producers to pay me so little," Grant added before the movie played. "So, I hope you enjoy it." 

Grant's arrest sparked major news coverage back in the '90s — so much so that he offered a public apology for the incident on The Tonight Show just days after it happened while promoting his movie Nine Months. The actor ultimately received a $1,000 fine, two years' summary probation and compulsory participation in an AIDS education program as his sentencing over the incident, according to The Independent.

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Grant reflected on the scandal while speaking with PEOPLE back in 2018, saying at the time he "was just an idiot" with his decision-making. "I didn’t try to say, ‘I’ve got this psychological problem.’ I just said, ‘I did it.' ”

At the time of the incident, he was dating Elizabeth Hurley; while they remained together during the scandal, they split in 2000, though they remain friends today. “We’re like brother and sister. . . . I think it’s partly because we went from zero to somewhere together," he told PEOPLE of Hurley in 2018. "We went through terrible years at the beginning when neither of us had any work, living in a tiny flat. It was quite bonding.”

Nearly three decades and dozens of movies removed from that arrest, Grant is now portraying a villain in A24's Heretic, which follows two young missionaries kidnapped by a man who holds them hostage in his home after they knock on his door.

Heretic is in theaters everywhere Nov. 8.