Rapper Desiigner has been charged with indecent exposure on an aircraft after allegedly masturbating in front of flight attendants while on an international flight.
The 25-year-old Brooklyn-born rapper, whose real name is Sidney Royel Selby III, faces a misdemeanor charge punishable by up to 90 days in custody and $500 in fines linked with accusations about his conduct on an April 17 Delta flight from Tokyo to Minneapolis.
Prosecutors said the rapper, best known for his 2016 hit song “Panda,” masturbated and exposed himself multiple times in the first class section of a Delta flight on April 17, 2023.
Initially, Desiigner exposed himself about 60 to 90 minutes after takeoff while seated in first class, before he covered up himself, according to a legal complaint, but a pair of flight attendants saw him playing with himself and told him to stop, which he did.
At that point, the lead flight attendant informed him that he was going to be taken into custody over his behavior.
Soon thereafter, he was seen a third time with his genitals exposed, at which point he was taken to the back of the aircraft, where two of his travel companions monitored him.
Desiigner dropped a container of lubricant – Vaseline – into the aisle when he was switching seats at one point, according to the complaint.
After news of the incident broke, the rapper posted a statement to his Instagram stories where he said he was “ashamed” and that he was seeking treatment.
“For the past few months I have not been ok, and I have been struggling to come to terms with what is going on. While overseas for a concert I performed at, I had to be admitted in to a hospital,” he wrote. “I was not thinking clearly. They gave me meds, and I had to hop on a plane home. I am ashamed of my actions that happened on that plane. I landed back to the states, … am admitting myself in a facility to help me.”