Joe Budden charged with lewdness after being “completely naked” in public
Joe Budden has been charged with lewdness in Edgewater, New Jersey after being spotted “completely naked” in public. The incident reportedly occurred on December 4th at around 07:30am in his apartment complex.
A statement was released by the Edgewater Police Department on December 30th, revealing they had received a report from a resident of an apartment complex earlier that month. The caller claimed that a man was standing at their door completely naked, recognising him as his neighbour, Budden.
The person who reported the incident was alerted to Budden’s alleged actions by their doorbell camera, attempting to enter a code into his door keypad several times before heading to his own place across the hall.
Following a police investigation, Budden was charged with lewdness (a disorderly person offence) on a complaint summons. However, police chief Donald A Martin reiterated that Budden was presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt and that the charges were simply accusations.
Budden responded to the news with a post on X (formerly Twitter), writing, “Y’all so dramatic lol.” Budden’s lawyer, Nima Ameri, revealed the rapper’s disappointment about the charges and accused Martin of attention-seeking.
“Mr. Budden is saddened by Police Chief Martin’s press release,” he told TMZ. “Mr. Budden has been waiting weeks for his cross complaints to be processed which include substantially more serious charges include possible felony charges against the persons behind these charges against him.”
“The Chief has in our opinion sat on those but instead used his time to gain some free publicity for himself. Chief Martin should seek publicity by doing notable policing not inflaming disorderly person allegations,” Ameri continued.
Ameri also accused Martin of racism, saying, “The allegations against Mr. Budden are a minor charge, not even resulting in an arrest. A charge Mr. Budden is looking forward to beating in court on the merits, not in the press. The Chief’s comments are reckless, and in our opinion racially motivated.
“Our research has not shown a single press release on a disorderly person charge on the police website this year. His choice to single out Mr. Budden in our opinion is self motivated and based off of Mr. Budden’s race and celebrity status.”
Budden appeared to reference the incident on an episode of The Joe Budden Podcast, saying, “I just sleptwalk somewhere that I shouldn’t have sleptwalked. And you know how I sleep: butt-ass [naked]! Good naked sleepwalking, I just did it again.”