Earlier than celebrating the brand new 12 months, former rapper and standard podcaster Joe Budden has discovered himself in some authorized bother.
On Monday, a press release by the Edgewater Police Division in New Jersey claimed that on the morning of December 4, officers responded to a name at an house complicated claiming that Budden was bare outdoors of somebody’s door.
Per the assertion, they had been particularly alerted by their doorbell digital camera and allegedly witnessed Budden making an attempt to enter the code into their house a number of occasions earlier than returning to his unit throughout the corridor. In consequence, he was charged with lewdness.
On Tuesday, only a day after the Edgewater Police Division launched their assertion, Budden’s legal professional, Nima Ameria, launched a press release on behalf of the podcast host, claiming that their assertion was “inflammatory and slanderous.”
Extra from the Ameri Regulation Agency’s assertion:
On December 30, 2024, the Chief of Police of Edgewater issued a press launch that we consider to be inflammatory and slanderous. You will need to make clear that Mr. Budden was by no means arrested, and the incident referenced was a results of a well-documented medical situation generally known as sleepwalking — a situation that Mr. Budden has an extended and public historical past of.
A assessment of the Edgewater Police Division’s web site reveals no related press releases associated to those allegations in opposition to some other people. Moreover, there was no arrest related to these allegations. The truth that Chief Martin selected to difficulty this press launch, in our opinion, highlights his self-importance over his integrity.
The assertion later provides that these allegations had been solely made in opposition to Budden as a result of he’s a “distinguished Black voice for his group.”
On a current episode of Joe Budden Podcast, Budden spoke briefly concerning the incident in a joking method. “I simply slept walked someplace that I shouldn’t have slept walked,” Budden mentioned. “And you know the way I sleep: butt ass. … No person can undergo these things however me.”
Unsurprisingly, after the police assertion was launched and social media caught wind of the information, they instantly used it as a chance to clown the rapper-turned-podcaster.
The person himself additionally took to social media on Tuesday, writing on X, “Yall so dramatic lol.”
Whereas Budden’s first feedback on the podcast preceded the police assertion, we wouldn’t be stunned if he spoke concerning the incident once more on one other episode. He’s all the time been one to handle claims made in opposition to him, regardless of how severe or defamatory they could be.