Drake halts Sydney show to shame groper

Drake has been praised after halting a performance to call out a man who was allegedly harassing female fans in the audience.

The rap and RnB star was in the middle of an after-show performance at the Marquee nightclub in Sydney, Australia last night, following a tour date at the Qudos Bank Arena when he paused to confront an audience member.

Halfway through Know Yourself, a track from his 2015 mixtape If You're Reading This It's Too Late, Drake told the DJ to stop the music, GQ reports.

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Stepping forward onto the edge of the stage and leaning out towards the crowd, he said: “If you don't stop touching girls, I'm going to come out there and f*** you up.”

The audience erupted into cheers at the outburst, directed at an unknown audience member. After repeating his threat, the Canadian singer resumed his set.

Clips of the encounter quickly made their way onto social media, where his intervention was widely praised as an example to others who witness sexual harassment:

Some sceptics wondered if the confrontation had been staged to attract positive publicity:

However, others pointed out that, even if the incident was a set-up, it still served to draw valuable attention to the issue of sexual harassment: