Chicago rapper arrested for alleged animal cruelty on Twitch stream
Chicago rapper Aspen Kartier was arrested last week on animal cruelty charges.
The 19-year-old (real name Aspen Easterling) has been accused of abusing a three-month-old Maltipoo puppy during a Twitch live stream.
According to Fox 5 Atlanta, the police department received several complaints about Kartier allegedly hitting the dog in videos online.
Officers in Brookhaven, Georgia, arrested Kartier on January 30th and booked her into DeKalb County Jail for animal cruelty, with DeKalb County Animal Control also taking custody of the dog.
In the viral clip, Kartier appears to hit the dog multiple times and grab it by the back of its neck.
Police searched her home in the 1000 block of Town Boulevard at around 9:35pm and stated the dog “appeared to be in good health.”
Twitch temporarily banned Kartier from the live-streaming platform, with animal rights organisation PETA condemning her actions on social media.
In a statement to Complex, a representative for PETA said, “People are rightly horrified by the video in which Aspen Kartier raises her arm several times and appears to strike her dog as he wails, before moving off camera while the sounds of the dog’s distress continue.”
They continued, “Anyone who would beat and terrify their dog should never go near one. Twitch was right to suspend this account. Now we urge authorities to immediately investigate, prosecute if appropriate, and, hopefully, seize this dog so that nothing like this ever happens again and the dog gets a chance at a loving home.”
Kartier’s biggest song, ‘Free Clout’, has over 3.9 million views on YouTube. On Spotify, her song ‘I Do’ has over 1.7 million streams, while boasting a total of 238,000 monthly listeners.