Early Thursday morning (local time), Lil Nas X was arrested as he was spotted wandering the streets in his underwear. According to the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), the award-winning rapper was placed into custody on suspicion of battery as he “charged” at police in Los Angeles. The Grammy-winning artist, who is expected to release an album later this year, was eventually taken to hospital over fears of a “possible overdose.”
A supposed video of the incident, as shared by TMZ, captured the “Old Town Road” hit-maker dancing in the street, asking passers-by to “come to the party.” The unverified clip also shows him wearing just his underwear and cowboy boots at the time.
Lil Nas X’s family worried he might be the ‘next Matthew Perry’
Since the incident, a source close to the family has shed light on how worried Lil Nas X’s loved ones are. In the wake of his recent arrest and subsequent hospitalisation, people close to him sought to “stage an intervention” amid concerns that some people may be planning to exploit him. Born Montero Lamar Hill, the Grammy winner became the first openly gay man to snag a Country Music Association Award.
As per the Daily Mail‘s report, the source suggested that certain people, whom Hill doesn’t trust, have surrounded him in the recent past. Moreover, some new associates are also allegedly out to get him. The insider further insisted that his family fears the people he’s been around lately, especially some “seedy characters in LA” who might be “leeching off him and living in his house.” As a result, his family wants to intervene and give him all the support he needs so that he may be able to cut off certain people from his past and other “new friends” who can’t be trusted.
Additionally, the insider pushed that Lil Nas X’s career “going downhill” has “affected” him. Given the current state of events, the person in question asserted that some of Hill’s family members are scared to the extent that fears of him being “exploited like Matthew Perry” unless he gets help have clouded them.
For now, officials have confirmed that the “Montero” singer will be remaining in custody until at least Monday, which is when his case will reviewed. In line with what the source claiming to be privy to his family’s emotions has foregrounded, the 26-year-old rapper once openly divulged how his meteoric rise to fame had affected him. He overtly mentioned drugs and others crimes being involved as well.
Lil Nas X has long been candid about his past struggles with fame
“So many happened during my rise. You know, drugs and murders,” he told Variety in 2020, alluding to the deaths of XXXTentacion, Juice Wrld and Nipsey Hussle. Further referring to his grandmother’s passing in 2018, he confessed, “She was the first person close to me who died. It was devastating. And it made me a hypochondriac: I’d wake up, heart racing. It was scary.”
The long-suffering artist even told his social media followers months before his arrest how the “last few years” had been “pretty difficult” for him. “I’m just now arriving to this place of feeling confidence in myself and what I’m doing, and I’m trying to make sure I put intention towards my music and my vision and the creativity of it all,” he shared in a self-made video in February.
At the time, Lil Nas X also emphasised that he sought to make having “fun this time around” his priority, contrary to how he was “overly focussed on making sure the songs did well” during the release of his 2021 album “Montero.”
As for his response to his sudden fame, he further admitted to People in an interview, “I jumped straight into adulthood with extreme fame around me, so it was really nice to be just outside walking and meeting people in the streets and eating at restaurants, just even alone, spending a lot of alone time in solitude.”
Lil Nas X’s ‘possible overdose’ a stark reminder of Matthew Perry’s death
While more details on Lil Nas X’s case are awaited, it surely makes sense that Matthew Perry’s (of Friends fame) tragic life story is recounted at a time like this. The Chandler Bing icon passed away in October 2023 as he was found unresponsive in his Los Angeles home’s jacuzzi.
An autopsy analysis indicated that the Hollywood star died to “acute effects of ketamine.” Other contributing conditions, though not related to the immediate cause of death, were listed as “drowning; coronary artery disease; buprenorphine disease.” A group of doctors were eventually dragged into the case over their medical ties with Perry, making way for an investigation on the grounds of professional exploitation.