Wyclef Explains School Rally Arrest
Access Hollywood spoke with Wyclef Jean about his arrest last week at the New York rally against school budget cuts. Jean said despite media reports that said he was arrested for trying to perform without a permit, he insisted he was nowhere near the stage. “I was right behind the barricades,” he said. “I came around the barricade. An officer with a suit on came. He was like, ‘We’re taking no more entertainers.”
He said another cop recognized him and told him he could stand on the side. Then he says the first officer came back.
Jean explained, “And he was like, ‘You didn’t hear what I said? No entertainers!’ I said, ‘Yo, I just came here to speak on behalf of the kids. I’m not leaving till I speak on behalf of the kids.’ And he was like, ‘Take this guy now! Arrest him! Put him in handcuffs!’ So I turned around an got on my knees and put my hands behind my back.”
He was released after a few hours but was not charged. He says the worse part was all the rumors his mother heard when it happened.
“My mother watches silent TV,” he said. “All she seen was — you know, handcuffs. Maybe they picked him up for drugs, maybe it’s guns. He’s a rapper. We don’t know what it is yet. He’s a rapper, it has to be drug related. So then I called my mom. I’m like, ‘Mom, I’m fine. You know my record. I’m clean as a whistle.'”
