Hip-hop artist Action Bronson was arrested for smoking weed at a music festival in Kosovo Saturday, according to media reports. Bronson was on stage performing at the Sunny Hill Festival over the weekend when he fired up a joint on stage. After taking a few hearty puffs, he shared his weed with his fans by flicking the joint into the crowd. A video of Bronson lighting and hitting the joint was posted to Instagram.
The display apparently did not sit well with police, who arrested Bronson at the venue. After being taken into police custody, he was subsequently released. The terms of his release or details of any charges or potential prosecution are not clear at this time.
A police spokesman released a statement following Bronson’s release.
“Following the interview with the competent prosecutor’s order the same was released,” the spokesman said, according to a translation of his statement.
The Sunny Hill Festival was billed as the largest music festival to ever be held in Kosovo. The festival was held August 10-12 at Germia National Park in Pristina, the capital city of the southeastern European state that declared independence from Serbia in 2008. Other artists performing at the Sunny Hill Festival included Martin Garrix, Dua Lipa, and Grace Carter.
Vocal Cannabis Advocate
Action Bronson, 24, is a hip-hop artist and television personality from Queens, New York. He has been an outspoken cannabis user and advocate throughout his career. As a speaker on a panel at a cannabis industry conference in 2016, Bronson said that he is a long-time cannabis user and that the herb stimulates his creativity.
“I’ve been high for 20 years. It got me through a lot of times,” Bronson said. “I’m an only child, so I’m very creative. I have to make things up in my life, like a friend here or there. Weed helps. It enhances everything with imagination in life and art and creation.”
Sometimes, however, the creativity inspired by cannabis leads to some unexpected results. Earlier this year, Bronson decided to try his hand at self-barbering after smoking a potent strain of cannabis. The experience left him without his trademark beard, he said in a radio interview.
“I was high out of my mind—it was this new strain,” Bronson said. “I never have clippers in my house for this reason. I usually call somebody to come help me out and come do that. I just started trimming and it went bad, it went awry. I tried to give it a fade, I tried to make it slim. I couldn’t stop, and then I ended up looking like Hulk Hogan in the face. It was just a bad move.”
And Saturday’s arrest isn’t the first time that Bronson’s pot use has caused professional difficulties. Staffers at HBO’s Vice, where Bronson produces his show Fuck, That’s Delicious, said his cannabis use is out of control.
“He smokes weed all the time, the whole building smells like weed when he’s there,” a source told Spin.
Another HBO employee agreed.
“He smokes pot all day long in the lobby of the fucking office. The whole lobby stinks,” the worker said.
Action Bronson’s European tour continues this weekend, with performances scheduled August 17-19 in Landerneau, France.