Despite the fact that Solange Knowles's run-in with a Miami Beach Police officer this weekend involved a five-foot banana balloon, the singer and her reps aren't treating the situation any less seriously. Her reps have released a statement clarifying that the weapon pulled on her by an officer was a switchblade.
Yesterday the police department sent out a press release saying that Knowles was denied admission to the Cameo nightclub on Washington Avenue in South Beach because she was carrying the inflatable banana, but Knowles apparently thought the reason was racial.
Knowles's reps, however, have released the following statement to Perez Hilton:
One officer pulled out a switchblade and threatened to pop the balloon. They felt it was inappropriate, but the turning point happened when he then took out the switchblade a second time with the blade open and said to them, 'I don't find the humor in this, anymore.' The blade was less than a couple feet away from Solange and her friends. The officer proceeded to "forcefully" ask them to move, gesturing that they cross the street though there was oncoming traffic. Solange then asked the officer what was it that they did wrong, and he forcefully responded again to move. When a taxi pulled up, they got in and headed home. Solange made a series of calls to report the incident and was told to be prepared to be arrested when she came in to report the incident if her story was false. Solange simply wanted to report that the officer pulled out a weapon, when she had done nothing illegal, disruptive or belligerent. Solange is actively filing a report and has not yet decided on further legal action.The police statement mentioned Knowles's claims that the officer tried to pop the balloon, without confirming or denying the accusation.
It really makes you wonder why an officer would even bother with threatening to pop the balloon in the first place, considering, last time we checked, balloons are not illegal in Miami Beach, nor do they cause much of a threat. It's one thing for a club to deny entrance for carrying such a balloon; it's another for an officer to threaten to destroy it. Then again, all of this info is coming from Knowles's side of the story.
Knowles, meanwhile, hasn't kept quiet about the incident on Twitter.
She has mentioned controversy surrounding the 2007 arrest of singer Kelis, as well as an accusation that Miami Beach Police officers have systematically harassed gay men. Wait until someone tells her about Urban Beach Week or the Miami Beach cop who got drunk and drove his ATV over two people.
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