Melle Mel, a member of the pioneering Hip Hop group Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, has been arrested for domestic violence after allegedly punching a woman in the face.
According to Rolling Stone, the rap legend was arrested in Los Angeles on Monday (June 26) after attending the 2023 BET Awards and charged with felony domestic violence.
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Melle Mel (real name Melvin Glover) was released from police custody after posting a $50,000 bond, per the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
The alleged victim, a woman named Jori Jordon, posted a video on Facebook claiming that the 62-year-old hit her in the left eye. She said her eye was previously injured after she was hit by a car door and required surgery.
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According to Jordan, she visited Melle Mel’s hotel room in L.A. after the BET Awards and suggested they become intimate. As she began to look through music to play, he allegedly struck her.
“I’m just sitting there, chillin,’” she said in the clip. “Next thing you know, this man just goes ‘whack’ with four rings on his finger and hits me in my eye.”
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She added: “He popped one of my stitches, so there’s a hole in my eye.”
Melle Mel has denied the allegations. Sharing his side of the story in an interview with Rolling Stone, he acknowledged that an argument took place between him and Jordan but refuted her claim that he hit her.
Mel told the publication that he’s known Jordan for over 20 years and at one point they lived together. He said she contacts him when he’s in L.A.
He confirmed that she went up to his hotel room after they attended a BET Awards afterparty together. When he asked her to leave, however, Jordan allegedly refused.
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As he attempted to escort her out of his room, Mel claimed the woman held her eye and asked him to accompany her to the hospital. He said he declined and instead encouraged her to call the police in hopes that they would get her to leave.
When police arrived, Jordan allegedly told officers that the rapper had assaulted her, at which point he was arrested and taken to Los Angeles County Jail.
Melle Mel denied striking Jordan and insisted that if he had gone to the hospital with her when she asked, everything would have been “fine.”
“It’s very simple,” he said. “She said I punched her in the eye. She also said she had eye surgery a month ago. Had I punched her in the eye, especially with rings on, she would have had a cut eye. It would have been way worse.
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“Something did happen to her eye, but I did not punch her. With me tussling with her and trying to get her away from me to get her out of the room, something happened.”
Melle Mel is expected back in court on July 17 to face the felony domestic violence charge.
