In this paper we study a multi-partite version of the Erdős--Stone theorem. Given integers $r<k$ and $t\ge 1$, let $\text{ex}_k(n, K_{r+1}(t))$ be the maximum number of edges of $K_{r+1}(t)$-free $k$-partite graphs with $n$ vertices in each part, where $K_{r+1}(t)$ is the complete $(r+1)$-partite graph with $t$ vertices in each part. We determine the exact value of $\text{ex}_k(n, K_{r+1}(t))$ for $t\le 3$, $r<k\le 2r$ and sufficiently large $n$. We also characterize all extremal graphs for $r, k$ such that $r$ divides $k$, analogous to a result of Erd\H os and Simonovits on forbidding $K_{r+1}(t)$ in general graphs.