The Dictatorship
Lil Nas X pleads not guilty to felony charges in Los Angeles
By Are Salam
Grammy-winning musician Lil Nas X has pleaded not guilty to four felony counts after an incident involving police last week in Los Angeles.
The 26-year-old rapper, whose real name is Montero Lamar Hill, was arrested early Thursday after he was seen walking around L.A. in his underwear and cowboy boots. He was charged with three counts of battery with injury on a police officer and one felony count of resisting arrest. If convicted on all counts, Hill could receive more than 10 years in prison, The Associated Press reported.
Los Angeles police said officers found Hill walking naked on Ventura Boulevard, a major thoroughfare, and that he charged at officers as they approached him. Citing a law enforcement source, NBC News reported last week that Hill punched an officer in the face twice and that it was unclear whether he was in mental distress or experiencing an overdose.
Hill was taken to a hospital and eventually to jail, where he was held over the weekend before being released Monday on $75,000 bail. As a condition of his release, he is expected to attend four Narcotics Anonymous meetings a week or enroll in an outpatient narcotics program, NBC News reported.
The musician, who is originally from the Atlanta area, first rose to prominence in 2019 with his hit country-rap single “Old Town Road,” which set a record for the longest-running No. 1 song on Billboard’s Hot 100.
Hill’s representatives did not immediately respond to BLN’s request for comment.
“Assuming the allegations here are true, this is an absolute aberration in this person’s life,” defense attorney Christine O’Connor told the court Monday, per NBC News. “Nothing like this has ever happened to him.”
A court hearing has been set for Sept. 15.
Erum Salam is a breaking news reporter and producer for BLN Digital. She previously was a breaking news reporter for The Guardian.