Al Powers/Invision / AP
This Nov. 20, 2014, file photo shows rapper Flavor Flav, whose real name is William Jonathan Drayton Jr., at the 15th annual Latin Grammy Awards in Las Vegas.
Published Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2021 | 1:59 p.m.
Updated Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2021 | 6:28 p.m.
Attorneys for entertainer Flavor Flav said Wednesday he’s working to stay sober following dismissal of a misdemeanor domestic battery charge stemming from a scuffle with his girlfriend at home in suburban Las Vegas.
The 62-year-old former rapper, hip-hop and reality TV star, whose legal name is William Jonathan Drayton Jr., pleaded no contest in Henderson Municipal Court to a misdemeanor nonviolent coercion charge, admitted he took a cellphone, and paid $640 in fines, a court official and his defense attorneys said.
“Mr. Drayton and his family are grateful to bring an amicable close to this matter and appreciate everyone’s support as he continues his one-year journey of sobriety,” defense attorneys David Chesnoff and Richard Schonfeld said in a statement.
Drayton was arrested late Oct. 4 at home in Henderson. He was freed from jail the next day on $3,000 bond.
The alleged victim was identified as a woman with whom he has a dating relationship and a minor child in common. Her name was redacted in court and police documents.
Flavor Flav is known for wearing a big clock on a chain around his neck. He was inducted with the group Public Enemy into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013. Public Enemy began in the New York area in 1986.
The former rapper has a criminal history including arrests and convictions on traffic infractions, a month in jail over assaulting his then-girlfriend in 1991, and three months behind bars for shooting at a neighbor in New York in 1993.
He was arrested in October 2012 in Las Vegas after he was accused of wielding knives and threatening his then-fiancee’s 17-year-old son at their home.
That felony case was closed after he pleaded guilty in 2014 to reduced charges of misdemeanor attempted battery, served probation and completed a domestic violence counseling course.
