Charlotte rapper DaBaby arrested after fight with Miami promoter over $10K, police say
Charlotte rapper DaBaby was booked at a Miami jail late Thursday after police arrested him. He’s accused of punching a man in the face during a dispute over money.
DaBaby, whose legal name is Jonathan Lyndale Kirk, was charged with battery and given a $1,500 bail, Miami-Dade County jail records show. He remained in jail Friday on a fugitive warrant out of Texas involving a similar charge, The Associated Press reported.
The Miami incident occurred Thursday afternoon, police records show. The Grammy-nominated artist told officers he was not involved in any fight, according to the police record.
Police say the 28-year-old rapper and several other men are accused of attacking two men, including a music promoter who was $10,000 short of paying DaBaby a $30,000 performance fee, according to a Miami Police Department complaint and arrest affidavit.
The affidavit says DaBaby was owed money for a performance at a Miami venue called Cafe Iguana Pines.
A man described in the police record only as “victim 1,” the music promoter, told officers DaBaby counted the money he gave him for the show and discovered it was not $30,000. DaBaby “began demanding the rest of the money and a verbal altercation ensued,” police wrote in the affidavit. DaBaby then punched a man in the face who was standing near the music promoter, police allege.
DaBaby and several other men then approached the promoter “and began attacking him,” according to the affidavit. Police provided a copy of the affidavit to The Charlotte Observer on Friday morning.
The promoter fell to the ground “and the males continued to hit him,” the promoter told police officers.
One of the men with DaBaby then reached into the promoter’s front left pocket and took his iPhone 7, a Bank of America credit card and $80 cash, according to the affidavit.
During the attack, someone also doused the promoter with apple juice, according to the report.
The attack occurred about 1:20 p.m. at the Novotel Miami Brickell hotel, police said. DaBaby was arrested nearly four hours later, police say. While at the jail, he was offered food and water but he refused, according to officers.
DaBaby performed at a New Year’s Eve event in Miami Beach Tuesday night with rapper Diddy and DJ Khaled, according to a promotional poster on DaBaby’s Instagram page.
He has not commented on social media about his arrest — his second encounter with police in recent weeks.
Controversial police search, arrest in Charlotte
On Dec. 23, DaBaby was cited with a misdemeanor marijuana charge by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police after he performed at Bojangles’ Coliseum. Following the arrest, he accused the police department of racial profiling.
Then, DaBaby told reporters that police officers “absolutely” targeted him and “unlawfully searched” his car once he finished performing, the Charlotte Observer previously reported.
“Black Excellence right here in our own city, (and) they hate it,” DaBaby tweeted the following day.
The incident prompted a CMPD Internal Affairs investigation and raised concerns about harsher penalties for African Americans and minority residents — compared to their white counterparts — when it comes to marijuana arrests, the Observer reported.
This story was originally published January 3, 2020 at 12:14 PM.