Kidd Creole, a veteran rapper from the famed rap group Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, was found guilty in the deadly stabbing of a homeless man in New York City.
According to ABC 7, a New York Supreme Court jury found Creole—born Nathaniel Glover—guilty of first-degree homicide. The Bronx native was arrested more than four years ago on suspicion of stabbing John Jolly, 55, on the streets of Manhattan.
The incident occurred while Creole was walking to his maintenance job just before midnight on August 1, 2017. Creole claims that Jolly, whom he had never met before, approached him on the street and asked, “What’s up?”
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is New York City. It’s midnight. Who’s saying ‘What’s up?’ to you with good intentions?” Creole’s lawyer, Scottie Celestin, told the jury. “His fear for his life was reasonable.”
When Creole drew out a steak knife and stabbed Jolly twice in the chest, his attorney claimed his client acted in self-defense. The man was sent to Bellevue Hospital, where he succumbed to injuries.
The defense argued that Jolly, who was inebriated at the time of the incident, had non-life-threatening stab wounds and died due to a combination of alcohol and a sedative given to him by medical workers.
Despite Creole’s self-defense claims, prosecutors pointed to an interview with the police where he admitted to attacking Jolly because he thought he was hitting on him. During an interview in 2021, Creole denied that his actions were based on homophobia.
“Now I’m fighting the image that they portrayed me as an intolerant of people with alternative lifestyles and that’s not true,” he told the magazine. “[…] They made me seem like I was the villain, and the person who actually attacked me was the victim. How do they justify charging me with murder when this guy attacked me?”
According to reports, Creole’s sentencing hearing is set for May 4.
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