Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden met with rapper DaBaby simply weeks after the Charlotte native drew controversy for filming a music video that reenacted the deadly mild rail stabbing of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska.
The sheriff’s workplace introduced the sit-down in a submit on social media Saturday night, sharing a photograph of McFadden seated beside the 33-year-old rapper, whose actual title is Jonathan Lyndale Kirk.
Each males flashed peace indicators within the photograph, sitting facet by facet on a sofa in an undisclosed location.
“Yesterday, Sheriff McFadden sat down with DaBaby to debate essential points and potential collaborations,” the sheriff’s workplace wrote within the caption.
“Keep tuned to what’s cooking up.”
The submit didn’t say what sort of undertaking the pair mentioned. A sheriff’s workplace spokesperson didn’t reply to The Publish’s requests for remark Sunday.
DaBaby stirred contemporary controversy final month along with his self-directed “Save Me” video, which partially reenacted the deadly mild rail stabbing of 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska.
The video exhibits actors portraying Zarutska and the alleged attacker, 34-year-old DeCarlos Brown Jr, on a Charlotte Space Transit System practice.
In DaBaby’s retelling, the video opens with a quick clip from a information report, then cuts to a dramatized model the place the rapper intervenes and stops the knife.
The scene ends with the younger lady’s character strolling residence unhurt, adopted by a screenshot of the actual GoFundMe elevating cash for Zarutska’s household — now topping $471,000.
Zarutska, who labored at an area pizza store, was killed Aug. 22 after being stabbed a number of instances in an apparently unprovoked assault.
Prosecutors say Brown — a homeless man with a protracted file — stabbed her from behind in an assault caught on surveillance cameras. The footage went viral on-line.
Brown has pleaded not responsible to state homicide expenses and a federal rely of inflicting demise on a mass transportation system. He’s being held with out bond.
DaBaby known as the undertaking a dedication to Zarutska and linked on to the fundraiser. Charlotte transit officers informed WSOC-TV that DaBaby filmed the scene on an energetic CATS practice with out approval.
Safety later escorted his crew off the practice, officers mentioned.
“CATS didn’t grant permission for the video to be filmed,” the company informed the station, including that it turned conscious of the shoot after customers reported it via the CATS-Go app.
DaBaby, who broke out nationally in 2019 along with his smash hit “Suge,” is certainly one of North Carolina’s largest musical exports — and certainly one of its most controversial.
The Charlotte-born rapper drew trade backlash in 2021 after making homophobic remarks throughout a Rolling Loud efficiency in Miami.
A number of festivals minimize him from their lineups, and model companions pulled out within the fallout.
He’s additionally had brushes with violence. In 2018, DaBaby shot and killed a 19-year-old man inside a Huntersville Walmart, telling police he fired in self-defense.
4 years later, he mentioned he opened fireplace on a trespasser at his Troutman residence.
No expenses have been filed in both case.
McFadden, 64, has served as Mecklenburg County sheriff since 2018, following a 36-year run with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Division, the place he earned a nationwide profile as a murder detective on the Investigation Discovery collection “I Am Murder.”
A fixture in Charlotte public life, McFadden has confronted his personal controversies.
Former staff have accused him of making a hostile work setting and utilizing racially charged language — allegations he has denied.
His tenure has additionally drawn scrutiny over jail administration and staffing turnover.
As of Sunday, DaBaby’s “Save Me” video had surpassed 2 million views on YouTube. The GoFundMe supporting Zarutska’s household stays energetic.
