Wanted Rapper, Reality Star Vows to Stop NYPD Twitter Taunts, Says He'll Turn Self In

A rap and reality television star who launched a social media rant against the NYPD after the department sent out an advisory looking for him for allegedly roughing up his ex-girlfriend and stealing her cellphone says he won't taunt police on Twitter anymore and is willing to turn himself in.

Joe Budden directed his ire at the NYPD via Twitter on Saturday after it sent out his picture and asked the public for help tracking him down.

In one expletive-punctuated tweet, the 33-year-old city native said he would sue. In another, he told the NYPD's account to alert the "Man hunt" that he'd be at an Astoria strip club Saturday night.

NBC 4 New York found him on his New Jersey doorstep Monday, getting ready to take his dog for a walk.

"You guys found me rather easily," the "Love & Hip Hop" star said. "And I'm wearing pink! Who runs wearing pink? I'm not on the run."

"It's been a frenzy. It's been a frenzy. I was surprised at all of it to be honest," Budden said, adding he felt like he was being treated like a fugitive. "The media circus, the witch hunt, the man hunt."

Budden said he regrets sending the taunting tweets and doesn't plan to send any more. He said he turned himself in to New Jersey authorities on a domestic violence charge and was released.

He said he's willing to do the same in New York, where he's wanted on a robbery charge for allegedly snatching his girlfriend's cellphone and twisting her arm during a dispute in his car in Manhattan last week.

Budden says the cellphone in question belongs to him, not his girlfriend, but he says he wants to do whatever it takes to rectify the legal situation and move forward.

His latest album is "All Love Lost." 

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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