Lil Uzi Vert was the subject of a mistaken identity plot that pointed to him as a dog thief.
On Thursday, the odd series of events surfaced online, with law enforcement in Pennsylvania sharing an alert with Uzi’s photo on it. In the post shared on the Wilkes-Barre Township Police Department’s Facebook page, they were seeking information for a dognapper who’d swiped an adorable Cavalier King Charles Spaniel from Brookside Pups, located at 695 Kidder Street. The puppy was snatched from the pet store at around 2:00 p.m. The assailant was apparently a Black man with face tattoos and what appeared to be braids who fled in a dark-colored SUV.
Shortly after they shared the poster, the department published a new bulletin, acknowledging that the first suspect photo was incorrect.
“Update: The original photo of the male provided by the establishment was not the correct male. This current photo is the actor in question,” they wrote.
The mixup happened because the actual assailant had a photo of Uzi as his social media profile picture. Therefore, judging by his skin color and facial art, investigators thought they were the same person. Roc Nation slammed the law enforcement agency for tainting the “Just Wanna Rock” rapper’s image.
“This grave error could’ve had significant repercussions on Uzi’s career and epitomizes how Black men can be wrongfully charged and arrested by police departments across the country,” they said in a statement to TMZ.
Uzi has remained quiet about the brief chaos.
