April 25, 2023
Desiigner, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, And Other Celebrities Charged With Indecent Exposure
Rapper Desiigner is trending for all of the wrong reasons after the “Panda” hitmaker was federally charged on Monday with indecent exposure and allegedly masturbating on an international flight.
Desiigner, real name is Sidney Royel Selby III, was charged with one misdemeanor count of indecent exposure after allegedly exposing himself multiple times on a Delta flight from Tokyo to Minneapolis on April 17, Page Six reports. A flight attendant reportedly noticed the rapper exposing himself and he quickly covered up, only to be caught pleasuring himself five minutes later.
The Brooklyn native was issued a warning by the flight crew and told he could be arrested, only for him to be caught exposing himself a third time. His two travel companions took him to the back of the plane where he told a security guard he was “bugging” and “messed up.”
When he got up from his first-class seat to move to the back of the plane, “a jar of Vaseline dropped in the aisle,” a criminal complaint states. The rapper apologized to the flight crew before being arrested.
While speaking with the FBI, Desiigner told an officer that he “didn’t get much” in Japan and admitted to showing his “magic stick” to one of the flight attendants whom he found attractive.
According to the rapper, he only exposed himself, “because I didn’t have anything in like a week,” which authorities assumed meant sexual intercourse.
When authorities asked how his actions would impact the flight attendant’s job, the rapper replied, “I thought I was giving her encouragement, to keep pushing, you know what I mean, to keep striving for it,” the complaint alleges.
On Thursday, Desiigner released a statement announcing he was checking into a mental health facility after a bad reaction to prescribed medication.
“For the past few months i have not been ok, and i have been struggling to come to terms with what is going on,” Desiigner wrote on Instagram.
“While overseas for a concert i performed at, i had to be admitted in to a hospital, i was not thinking clearly. They gave me meds, and i had to hop on a plane home.”
Desiigner isn’t the first famous face to land himself in jail on indecent exposure charges. A number of actors, musicians, and fellow rappers have landed in hot water for disturbing public acts.
Back in 1998, the late rapper Ol’ Dirty Bastard was kicked out of a hotel in Germany for indecent exposure after allegedly standing naked on his hotel balcony, MTV reports. That same year, singer George Michael was charged with engaging in lewd acts after an undercover cop followed him into a Beverly Hills park public bathroom, via Independent.
In 2004, famed police brutality victim Rodney King was arrested for indecent exposure after he was reportedly seen nude, jumping up and down on an ice chest in a public park, via NY Times. Other celebrities who made media headlines for indecent exposure include Brad Pitt who was arrested in 1988 for allegedly mooned drivers on the Pacific Coast Highway in California.
Paul Reubens, famous for his role of Peewee Herman in the 1980s, was arrested for indecent exposure in 1991 while in an adult movie theater. In 2003, Reubens was charged with child pornography but had the charge later reduced to misdemeanor obscenity.
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