Why was Snoop Dogg arrested at London’s Heathrow Airport?
It must have been a strange day for the British police. A brawl had broken out at London’s Heathrow Airport, and the cops were called for. When they got there, they discovered who was at the heart of it all: Snoop Dogg.
Snoop, who is no stranger to getting into trouble abroad, was planning to leave London in April 2006 with his large entourage in tow. They were headed for the South African city of Johannesburg, where he was scheduled to play a gig. But things at the airport duly went wrong. A disagreement broke out between the airline’s staff and Snoop’s crew, who were trying to gain access to the first class lounge. But not all of them had first class tickets, and that’s where the problems began.
Snoop’s crew did not like being told no, apparently, and they soon became rude and aggressive, according to reports. They tried to shove their way into the lounge, which led to a full-on brawl breaking out and the police being called to the scene.
Things became genuinely violent. “There were all these huge 20-stone men smashing up display cabinets and throwing people around,” one witness later claimed, according to The Guardian. “I saw Snoop Dogg on the ground with four riot police trying to put him in handcuffs.”
Apparently members of Snoop’s crew “were throwing bottles of duty free at people. They were throwing people around like pillows. Then the police used pepper spray on them.”
One of the more peculiar details of the incident is that, among the witnesses to the brawl, was another figure of note. The Irish pop star Ronan Keating is said to have been there, watching all of this unfold. What an odd scene the whole thing must have been.
About 30 people were said to be involved in this big fracas, and, by the end, six people had been arrested on suspicion of violent disorder and affray. One of them was Snoop, who was 34 at the time. He spent the night in jail and was released on bail the following day.
After getting out, Snoop was expected to catch a private jet to South Africa—although he ended up cancelling his first gig scheduled there. On his way to Luton Airport, where the private jet was said to be waiting for him, members of the press managed to approach him.
They asked how his night in London had been. “It was cool,” came his reply, according to the BBC.