Looks like whoever called the cops on Lil Nas X last week wasn’t exaggerating when they reported the Grammy winner as a “nude man walking in the street.”
Initial video posted last week by TMZ showed the performer wearing only tighty-whities and white cowboy boots, strolling and posing on an L.A. street just before sunrise — and just before his arrest on suspicion of charging at a police officer. But it turns out that’s not the exact condition he was in when law enforcement took him in.
In new video TMZ posted over the weekend, the artiste can be seen walking down the middle of a street fully naked, having shed the boots and underpants that had barely covered his modesty. (That he disrobed explains how a concerned citizen-slash-amateur videographer was able to snatch his boots up from off the street and list them for sale on EBay, seeking $10,000 — or best offer.)
In the new footage, Lil Nas X recites some Nicki Minaj lyrics from the Kanye West tune Monster as he struts runway-style toward the person shooting the video, who appears to be in the driver’s seat of a car.
“And if I’m fake, I ain’t notice ‘cause my money ain’t / So let me get this straight, wait, I’m the rookie? / But my features and my shows 10 times your pay? / 50K for a verse, no album out,” Lil Nas X says in the video.
On Monday, Lil Nas X pleaded not guilty on Monday to four felony charges after police say he assaulted officers who approached the singer while he was found wandering the streets of Los Angeles in his underwear.
A judge set bail at US$75,000 and said the Old Town Road rapper must attend an outpatient drug rehabilitation programme. Police said they believed Lil Nas X was using drugs at the time of the incident.
His attorney, Christy O'Connor, however, said there was no evidence of drug use by the 26-year-old.
"This is just an aberrant episode in an otherwise productive life," she said.
The musician was charged with three counts of battery of a police officer and one count of resisting an officer.
He appeared in court in blue prison garb and replied "yes" when asked if he understood the bail conditions.
Lil Nas X, whose real name is Montero Lamar Hill, was the first openly gay man to receive a Country Music Association Award, winning for his 2018 hit Old Town Road. He also earned two Grammys for the song.
His father, Robert Stafford, told reporters outside the courthouse that the singer was "very remorseful for what happened."
"He's going to get the help that he needs," Stafford said. "Just keep him in your prayers." – Agencies
