Killer Mike addresses his Grammy arrest
New details of Killer Mike's arrest have emerged, but the rapper is confident he will be "cleared of all wrongdoing"
Aux News Killer Mike
Outside of the Taylor Swift of it all, one of the biggest stories that came out of the 2024 Grammy Awards was the arrest of Killer Mike. Video of the rapper being detained shortly after winning three Grammys went viral on Sunday night; he was later released, but few details were made publicly available as to why he was arrested in the first place. Now, a source for Rolling Stone claims the arrest stemmed from an altercation with a security guard in the aftermath of his wins.
According to this source, the artist—real name Mike Render—was stopped by a guard who asked for his tickets and directed him to a security checkpoint. Render tried to move around her and she stopped him again, after which she alleged that Render pushed her to the ground. The security guard supposedly suffered injuries from the alleged assault and called in fellow security before contacting police. She then received medical treatment and signed a citizen’s arrest for misdemeanor battery.
That answers why law enforcement couldn’t wait until after the Grammys were over to handle the situation quietly: because “it was a private citizen, and she had everything she needed to exercise her rights to make a citizen’s arrest,” the source explained to the outlet. “And we are bound by law to make that arrest.”
As for Killer Mike, he denies the allegation. A source from his team told Rolling Stone that the “situation has been overblown, but we are confident that the facts of the case, when laid bare, will show that Mike did not commit the alleged offense, and he will be exonerated.”
In his own statement, Render said, “As you can imagine, there was a lot going and there was some confusion around which door my team and I should enter. We experienced an over-zealous security guard, but my team and I have the upmost [sic] confidence that I will ultimately be cleared of all wrongdoing.”
“We are incredibly proud and are basking in this moment,” he added in the wake of his awards. “I am also grateful that one of my prayers has been answered—the day after my Grammy win—I learned that my son, who has been on the list for a kidney for years, finally has a match. Obviously, we are elated.”
78 Comments
I’ve always been a bit curious what would happen if I were ever to actually attempt one. Probably nothing good.
Go ahead, live a little!
OK, here I go! I’ll let you know how it turns out.
Godspeed, internet poster bfred!
Well shit.
See and now you’re a hero!Or a villain!What’s important is that you got attention!
I’m such a hero my hair fell out.
Only if they are society’s low hanging fruit and the true authorities will believe what they see.
I’ve never done a Citizen’s Arrest, but I did try a Casio Confrontation. (But it mainly involved playing the keyboard and yelling, so the dude just walked on.)
Citizen’s arrests don’t interest me. Could I do a citizen’s sentencing? I’ve always wanted to give someone life without parole.
I’ll allow it.
Karens are gonna Karen.
Don’t push people. Pretty simple bud.
I hate that it must be asked, but it must: If the exact same situation happened with, say, Post Malone, who is white, would he have been arrested and escorted out during the show?
Of course, why wouldn’t he?
I don’t know that hypotheticals like this do a lot of good, because we just fill the empty space with whatever our preexisting beliefs are. The answer to your question is that we don’t know, because that didn’t happen.What we do know strongly suggests that Killer Mike assaulted a security guard. We should generally want people who assault others to be arrested for assault.
I think it depends on the kind of assault. If one person merely shoves another, I want to separate the parties, but I don’t necessarily want the police to show at that moment and haul one of them away. If one person shoves another down and begins kicking them in the face, then I really would like the police to arrive as soon as possible.
I don’t think we really want a rule where it’s legal to put your hands on a person and knock them to the ground. I think we can expect people not to shove each other. And one good way to keep confrontations from escalating (the kicking in the face example you use) is to make it illegal to engage in violent acts that are often a preclude to even more violent acts.
Other than the security guard… has anyone confirmed this story?
Oh no, I don’t want a rule where’s legal to shove someone. That clearly would create a legal gray zone without any real corresponding moral benefit. Mine’s more a utilitarian argument about how we handle violations of laws and morals, taking into account that there are varying degrees of violation.
Yup. I’m generally pro “people not assaulting one another”, but I also don’t trust cops or believe they automatically make situations like this better, so frankly if there’s a way to resolve the matter without them I’d go for it, especially for something on the level of a shove.
I don’t know that hypotheticals like this do a lot of good, because we just fill the empty space with whatever our preexisting beliefs are. Like the belief that the security guard *must* have been right? Or is that just something we should take at face value?
Lol, there were TONS of black people at the Grammys, yet somehow this ONE female guard singled out someone (who btw doesn’t claim they went in the right way, just called the guard “overzealous”) simply because they were black to “make an example of”!STFU already.
No one, including Killer Mike, is suggesting the security guard assaulted him first. If a security guard prevented Killer Mike from going somewhere he was permitted to be, then he still isn’t justified in pushing her down. Resolve the disagreement another, legal way.Come on, we teach children this. Surely it isn’t too much to ask from a man who has lived almost half a century.
What if the question were asked this way: If Post Malone had just won a Grammy, and couldn’t find his ticket to reenter after stepping outside, would a security guard have barred his entry?
Speaking of filling the empy space with whatever our preexisting beliefs are, in the absence of video footage or eyewitness accounts from anyone who is not an “anonymous source” (i.e. a cop) what evidence exactly do we have that “strongly suggests” Killer Mike assaulted a security guard? Cops – and wannabe cops like security guards – lie all the time, especially about being assaulted or otherwise harmed in the line of duty. There is zero reason to believe the account of Rolling Stone’s anonymous source in the absence of corroborating evidence.
Do we not know what happened?Or did he assault the security guard?This is good mealy-mouth rhetoric to brush aside discussion of racism as a topic.
Definitely not.
It should be asked and I’ll say it: no. If this happened to Post Malone he would have the opportunity to turn himself in and the ensuing troubles would take the form of, and be reported as, pesky “legal troubles”
Post Malone has more tattoos than Robert DeNiro did in Cape Fear (and Max Cady was still savvy enough not to get tattoos where a judge could see them).Justin Timberlake might have been a better example for you, Post Malone would definitely have been arrested.
Good point. They’d have apologized profusely and dusted off the carpet before his feet had to touch it.Do JT’s feet even touch the floor anymore?
Yes a white person would have been arrested. It was a citizen’s arrest. Regardless of whether the police wanted to take Killer Mike into custody they are required by law to do it. (Taking him into custody does not mean to jail him.)
If the same security guard had accused Post Malone (or El-P, who is probably a better subject for the hypothetical given Run the Jewels), they would have had to take him into custody as well. “Taking into custody” means taking responsibility for and control over the arrestee from the citizen. The idea is to quickly get the arrestee away from the arresting citizen who may be physically restraining him. At that point the arrestee can be taken to the station and booked, they can be given a notice to appear and released once they sign it, or they can be released without further action.
rEqUiReD bY lAwSure, buddy, sure. That’s exactly how our justice system operates, strictly by the letter of the law. /s
You talk about cops and ‘the law” as though that scenarios you’re describing actually happen IRL. Good lord, chile. Your comment is loaded with “Would have to,” “Can be” hypotheticals because the shit you’re so confidently describing doesn’t happen.
But keep believing everything youtube and your bestlawfacts.com site keep telling you, lol. And don’t forget to download their malware-ridden “How to get everything you ever wanted -legally” free course. For only$2000.
I’ve been a practicing lawyer for 34 years and I don’t post anything about the law that I don’t personally know to be a fact.
Were you there that night? I didn’t think so. Eveything you have written is conjecture.
Are you a security guard or a cop? Even if you are not you should know that neither of these entities give an F about “facts.” They do what they want.
I think you might be skipping over the possibility that the security guard who unnecessarily decided to jump past her “observe and report” remit and arrest the not-especially-famous large black man might have made a somewhat different call for the super-famous white pseudorapper. As you no doubt know, there is a bit of a precedent for white people, especially cops and security guards, to factor race into their threat analysis.
I was assuming that any security guard who was working the Grammy awards would have been cautioned not to effect a citizen’s arrest on participants and was stupid enough to do it anyway. You’re right that purely racist stupidity has always got to be considered as a cause.
Yes.
additional hypothetical layer: if post malone were arrested, would he receive similarly sympathetic coverage?
He wouldn’t have and please don’t pay any mind to the Pedant who ‘answered’ you while stroking his chin which has no hair on it. He’s a low-key racist and I remember when he could not get out of the greys. He’s out now so that’s a win for a-holes.
I have the impression that this random person who doesn’t understand proper vs. common nouns, quotation marks, or American spelling is talking about me while pretending that suggesting that racism exists is racism.
Given your other reply, I’m going to assume this was meant for me. First, find a post where I’ve said, implied or endorsed a racist statement. If not, retract the accusation.
Second, no, you don’t remember when I could not get out of the greys. I’ve been posting under this exact same stupid username since AV Club was a corner of the Onion web page. That’s probably 20 years ago. When AV Club started using Disqus for comments, we were all just rolled into the new system. When they switched over to Kinja, I had whatever full posting privileges came with the system from day one. I’m assuming you have mistaken me for someone else, but regardless, leave me out of whatever you’re doing here.
(ETA to clarify this response refers to the poster’s earlier criticism.)
Keep in mind we’re only a couple years out from Will Smith slapping Chris Rock on stage, in front of all the cameras, and not only not getting arrested but going back to his seat to enjoy the rest of the show. There are certain levels of fame you reach where you can get away with doing this type of shit at big events, and even though I’m a HUGE RTJ/Killer Mike fan, he’s not at that level. My guess is the security guard didn’t recognize him and just thought he was some rando trying to crash the show, and he, coming off winning a fucking Grammy, wasn’t having it.
Then act like you’ve been there, you’re not above the law simply because you won an award.
In a fancy suit? And an entourage?? Sure, Jan.
Obviously not.
If this is really what happened, and Post Malone had shoved a security guard to the ground and caused injuries, then yes, probably so.
The 13% gonna 60%.
I hope you get shot in the head with a gun
I was hoping for a fatal beatdown, maybe a curb-stomping, but there’s something to be said for expediency when it comes to taking out trash like that.
Why are black men so violent?
If we’re lucky, one will kill you for being racist trash.
There is no You Can’t Arrest Me at a Fancy Party rule. Arguing otherwise is following the same logic of Trump’s assertions about his criminal cases — that he’s just too famous or important to be treated under the same rules as everybody else.
These two things are not the same. Delaying arrests or allowing people to surrender themselves for misdemeanors is common as hell.
But what happened here is that the security guard (the alleged victim) initiated a citizen’s arrest, and the police are (according to them) bound then to effectuate that arrest. If that is a correct reading of the law in California, then it sounds like everyone did what they were supposed to do. Maybe you could argue that the security guard should not have pressed to arrest Killer Mike at that moment, but that seems like a tough argument — assault victims can’t really be expected to care that the people who assaulted them were on the way to a fancy party.
Under California law, there shouldn’t have been a citizen’s arrest at all. Absent an immediate, ongoing threat, you’re just supposed to file a police report and let them perform the arrest at the appropriate time.None of this is remotely similar to a claim of absolute and permanent immunity from prosecution.
Hey man, when someone calls himself Killer you better believe him!
…he assaulted someone then tried to enter a highly secured event, THEN scuffled with police.
with that in mind you also have to ask whether this would’ve escalated to an arrest, and if that arrest would’ve taken place so publicly, if it involved someone who wasn’t famous. it’s also worth pointing out many other prominent people would be given the opportunity to turn themselves in, depending on their skin tone.
It didn’t escalate into an arrest, it started as one. As soon as the security guard made the (probably dumb) decision to perform a civil arrest, the rest was inevitable. Cal. Penal Code section 142 makes it a crime for an officer to refuse to receive someone who has been arrested by a civilian.
“It didn’t escalate into an arrest, it started as one.”I’m not sure I see the distinction you’re making. Being under arrest is not Killer Mike’s ground state of being. Something happened and the guard made a citizen’s arrest. That’s an escalation; maybe a justified one, we’ll need to get all the details to find out, but it’s undeniably an escalation from no one being under arrest.
Fair point. I read the original post to be saying the culmination of the event was the cops taking Killer Mike into custody. If we’re saying that the encounter between the security guard and Killer Mike escalated into the citizen’s arrest then both you and the OP are right.
jesus. You’re a goddamn disingenuous framing of an argument ninja!
The irony.
Okay, Alanis.
So we’re just comparing Killer Mike to Post Malone now are we?
A security checkpoint. To where? Where were they going? There is no way for any of us to determine what is right or wrong (because that’s what we commenters are here for, yeah?) with such slopppy blogs.
Journalism 101: Who, what, when, where, why?Right. We don’t do that any more. Now it’s just how much? What were they wearing?
As many point out he should be arrested, so why did they wait 4+hrs to do it, instead of a moment such as they did should be the real question?
I love all of the mental gymnastics being done simply because he’s black, lol! Face it, I guarenfuckingtee he had a chip on his shoulder, told her to fuck off and when she didn’t bow down to him and his “team” (the fuck??) he pushed her down. Of course he doesn’t deny going around her or pushing her down, no to him it was “confusion”! Yup, it was her fault because she was “overzealous” asking someone to show their tickets and go through a security point LIKE EVERY OTHER FUCKING PERSON ATTENDING HAD TO!! But no, per “his team” it was all overblown. But hey, it’s only the Grammys right? Not like security should/would be tight.So to recap the guard doing their job probably lost it because some entitled rapper and his team were “disrespected” for the audacity of doing what everyone else was required to do.Again, there were hundreds if not THOUSANDS of black people in attendance, stop with this “if they were white” bullshit. Again, he doesn’t even deny what he did.
Physican, heal thyself
Who are you talking to? The article doesn’t make any mention of race as a factor.
The posters here in the comments.
He’s a loathsome, idiot racist. He’s just mad that they shut off comments at the Root, so he needs to spew his hateful idiocy elsewhere now.
‘Pusher and Shover Mike’ doesn’t have quite the same effect…
This sounds like a misunderstanding due to racism. At the very least, if Trump ain’t getting cuffed for high treason, maybe we can treat a Grammy winner with a little more respect than the biggest dumbass alive.
That’s legitimately great news about his son. Kidney damage sucks.