Lil Tjay Gets Arrested While on Instagram Live

2023-06-07T18:28:01+00:00June 7th, 2023|

Lil Tjay had fans confused on Tuesday (June 6) when he appeared to get arrested while on Instagram Live.

In the video, which has since been circulating social media, the rapper is seen in New York City, telling police officers not to touch him. “No, bro. Hell no. What’s in the car? I don’t know what’s in the car,” he’s heard saying in the clip. “Don’t touch me. There’s no firearm in the car.”

Tjay is then restrained by multiple officers and handcuffed. The 22-year-old rapper’s lawyer Dawn Florio has since told TMZ that he was filming a music video when the police arrived and arrested him for reckless endangerment — not gun possession as was assumed by fans watching the live video. Billboard has reached out the rapper’s label and Florio for more information.

A spokesperson for the NYPD confirmed to Billboard that at midday on Tuesday “police observed a male waving what appeared to be a black firearm from a sunroof of a moving motor vehicle” around 1st Ave. and East 23rd Street. “The male was taken into custody and an imitation pistol was recovered.” The spokesperson confirmed that the person arrested on charges of reckless endangerment, obstructing governmental administration and criminal possession of a weapon was Tione Merritt, 22, which is Lil Tjay’s birth name.

Back in 2019, another clip of Lil Tjay being arrested went viral online, but the scene ended up being part of his music video for “F.N.” In January of this year, the star and four others were arrested after police pulled Tjay over and allegedly found four loaded guns inside his car without valid license. The group, which was on its way to film a music video with Ice Spice, was charged with second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, and held on $30,000 cash bail and $90,000 bond by the NYC Department of Corrections.

See the latest clip from Tjay’s Instagram Live below.

Share This Story, Choose Your Platform!

Go to Top