Topline
Lil Nas X was arrested Thursday following an altercation with the Los Angeles Police Department, according to NBC Los Angeles, which reported the rapper has since been hospitalized after police requested help for a possible drug overdose.
Lil Nas X attends the 2025 Vanity Fair Oscar Party Hosted By Radhika Jones at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on March 02, 2025 in Beverly Hills, California.
Photo by Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic
Key Facts
Lil Nas X, whose name is Montero Lamar Hill, was arrested after police responded to reports of a naked man in Studio City, California, a neighborhood in Los Angeles incorporating a portion of the Hollywood Hills and the San Fernando Valley.
The police received the reports near 6 a.m. PDT, the LAPD wrote in an email to Forbes without explicitly identifying Hill, noting the “suspect charged at officers” before being taken into custody.
Hill threw punches at officers who eventually forced him to the ground, NBC Los Angeles reported, citing an unnamed LAPD source who said law enforcement requested firefighter-paramedics for a possible drug overdose resulting in a hospitalization.
LAPD confirmed the arrest and hospitalization to Forbes and said an arrest was made for battery on a police officer.
The charge can carry up to one year in county jail and $2,000 in fines, according to criminal defense firm Cron, Israels and Stark.
Hill appeared to be in a video published by TMZ that seemingly showed the rapper walking down a street in underwear and cowboy boots.
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Key Background
Hill rocketed to fame in 2018 with his viral hit “Old Town Road.” The rapper went on his most recent tour from 2022 to 2023 and has kept live performances to a minimum since. Last year, Hill received pushback for religious imagery he used for his single “J Christ,” and apologized for a promotional video in which he consumed communion wine and wafers in excess. The controversy was one of multiple in which Hill has been accused of manufacturing controversies for attention. Hill released his second EP “Days Before Dreamboy” in March as a prelude to his upcoming album “Dreamboy,” netting tens of millions of streams on Spotify. The rapper was hospitalized in April for partial facial paralysis, though he did not disclose the cause of the condition before improving. Hill’s Thursday encounter with police comes just a day after he wiped his Instagram page and posted a series of cryptic photos, music snippets and messages, one of which was captioned, “OH NO sHES GONE MAD! CRAZY I TELL U!”
Further Reading
Lil Nas X’s ‘Christian Era’: Rapper Embarks On Bizarre Marketing Campaign For New Single—Drawing Renewed Blasphemy Accusations (Forbes)
Lil Nas X Says He Wasn’t Trying To Mock Christians In Rollout For New Single ‘J Christ’ (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoniopequenoiv/2025/08/21/lil-nas-x-reportedly-arrested-following-lapd-altercation-possible-drug-overdose/