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Lil Nas X has pleaded not guilty in court after he was charged with four felonies on Monday.
The 26-year-old, whose legal name is Montero Lamar Hill, was charged with three counts of battery with injury on a police officer and one felony count of resisting an executive officer, the district attorney’s office said.
The charges come after the rapper was found walking Ventura Boulevard in the early hours of Thursday morning, dressed only in underwear and cowboy boots.
He was initially booked on suspicion of misdemeanour obstructing an officer on Friday, after allegedly charging at officers when they confronted him. Officers first took him to the hospital, suspecting a possible drug overdose, but he was released and taken to jail only a few hours later.
He was held on $75,000 bail, conditional on attending drug treatment.
Lawyers say rapper isn’t “going to let one little event” change the trajectory of his life
An attorney for Hill, Christy O’Connor, told the judge he had led a “remarkable” life, and denied police allegations that the altercation was drug related.
“Assuming the allegations here are true, this is an absolute aberration in this person’s life,” O’Connor told the court, according to NBC. “Nothing like this has ever happened to him.”
Speaking with reporters outside the courthouse on Monday, Hill’s lawyer Drew Findling said he will pay bail and he expects to be out of jail later that same day.
“He’s never been in trouble for a split second in his existence, we’re not going to let one little event change the trajectory of his amazing life, said Findling, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter. “There’s no way to have a sense of what happened this immediately, but we’re going to look into it and do the right thing.
“Anybody that has kids, you hear about things like this all the time. Don’t forget, he’s 26 years old. It’s not unusual for something like this to happen, particularly when you have the pressure of being recognised internationally like him.”
Findling encouraged reporters not to “judge somebody by the worst moment in their life.”
Hill became a breakout star for his hit “Old Town Road”, earning him a nomination for Best New Artist at the 2020 BET Awards. The rapper has a number of accolades to his name despite his short time in the spotlight, including five Billboard Music Awards, two Grammies, and two GLAAD Media Awards.
He was also awarded the Hal David Starlight Award by the Songwriters Hall of Fame, becoming the youngest honouree to do so.
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