Ahead of his set at New York’s Governors Ball this past weekend, rapper Roddy Ricch was arrested on weapons charges Saturday (June 11) forcing him to miss the festival entirely.
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Fans patiently awaiting the “The Box” rapper’s set first started to notice something was amiss when he was a no-show 45-minutes past his 6:30 pm slot. Soon after organizers tweeted, “Unfortunately Roddy Ricch is no longer performing today.”
According to the New York Daily News, the arrest happened when Ricch, along with his driver and bodyguard, was at Flushing Meadows Corona Park nearby. Police searched their vehicle at a security checkpoint at about 6:20 pm and found a loaded firearm, additional ammo, and a large-capacity magazine.
An NYPD spokesperson confirmed that the arrest had taken place on Saturday, adding that the charges were pending, as reported by Rolling Stone.
The following day, Ricch and his two associates were charged with four counts, including criminal possession of a weapon, possession of a large capacity ammo feeding device, and unlawful possession of that device. The rapper remains in custody at Queens Central Booking awaiting arraignment on the charges.
“The reason we do these checkpoints is for expressly this purpose. We don’t want people introducing guns in this venue,” an NYPD official told New York Post on Sunday.
Ricch is the latest rapper in recent years to get arrested at a New York music festival. In October 2011, Fetty Wap was arrested en route to Rolling Loud on federal drug charges. At Rolling Loud in 2019, five New York-based artists’ sets were canceled last minute after they were deemed “public safety concerns.”
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