Nelly was briefly jailed early Saturday morning after a woman told police the rapper had sexually assaulted her on his tour bus near Seattle. Police officers in Auburn, Washington, took Nelly into custody at 4:37 a.m., and he was booked on second-degree rape charges at around 7 a.m. The rapper, whose given name is Cornell Iral Haynes Jr., was released from custody a short while later, according to TMZ.
Auburn police issued a news release explaining that a woman called 911 at 3:48 a.m. Saturday to say she had been assaulted on a tour bus by “a male, who is known as the rapper ‘Nelly.’ ” The rapper’s attorney, Scott Rosenblum, vehemently denied the accusation. “Our initial investigation clearly establishes this allegation is devoid of credibility and is motivated by greed and vindictiveness. I am confident, once this scurrilous accusation is thoroughly investigated, there will be no charges. Nelly is prepared to address and pursue all legal avenues to redress any damage caused by this clearly false allegation,” Rosenblum said.
The three-time Grammy winner is on tour with Florida Georgia Line, and they are scheduled to perform on Saturday in Ridgefield, Washington.
Before news of the arrest was made public, someone posted a seriously creepy video from the Friday night concert showing Nelly singing toward a clearly underage girl, even twirling her hair in his fingers at one point. This apparently wasn’t an isolated event, and similar scenes have played out in his concerts before.
