Rapper charged in anti-gay slashing outside New York chicken shop
A rapper from Brooklyn has been charged with assault as a hate crime after being accused in a slashing outside a chicken shop and hurling homophobic abuse.
The rapper known as ‘Mousey Baby’, real name James Thomas, was arraigned on the charges on Wednesday.
Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun held Thomas on a $150,000 bond.
The 32-year-old rapper burst into the Crown Fried Chicken on Fulton Street on 5 May, before hurling homophobic abuse at men inside the restaurant, authorities say.
He then allegedly slashed a man across the face before fleeing the chicken shop.
After running into another two men coming out of the Langston Club, where he had recently left, he allegedly stabbed one man three times and knocked down the other.
The rapper fled on foot before police arrived at the scene.
“In Brooklyn, everyone, regardless of their race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender or religion must be able to safely walk the streets without fear of being senselessly attacked,” Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez went on to say that the crime was “particularly egregious as he attacked three innocent people simply because he perceived them to be gay.”
Thomas will return to court in May.
