PARIS — American rapper Lil Baby was detained and later released in Paris on Thursday for allegedly transporting drugs, according to the city prosecutor’s office.
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NBA star James Harden was also stopped but not detained, the prosecutor’s office said. Images shared on social networks showed the Brooklyn Nets star briefly frisked in the incident on one of the French capital’s most elite avenues.
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The prosecutor’s office said one other person was also detained, without releasing the identity. An investigation is under way.
Plainclothes police stopped Harden, Lil Baby and his bodyguard because a strong smell of cannabis was coming from their car, according to a French police official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to be publicly named.
The official said that Lil Baby initially refused to allow police to check the car. The situation was tense because the Americans didn’t understand what was happening. Uniformed officers then arrived and proceeded to search the car, finding 32 grams of cannabis, according to the official.
Lil Baby and the bodyguard were taken into custody on suspicion of transporting drugs, and released Friday morning after being handed fines, according to the prosecutor’s office.
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A student in the area described seeing the ruckus on what is normally a quiet avenue, lined with luxury boutiques. “I turned my head and it was unbelievable, I saw Lil Baby and James Harden ... they are standing and are being frisked,” said the witness, Lance Avraham Pena.
Language appeared to pose a problem and police didn’t recognize the two Americans, said Pena, who filmed a bit of the scene.
Fans of Harden and the singer in France raised concerns online about racial profiling. But the Paris police department appeared to deflect suggestions the arrest was groundless by tweeting that it was based on an “infraction.” Both men are Black, and the police officers white.
A lawyer who has researched racial profiling in France asked, “Would a white person have been stopped the same way? ... It’s not at all sure.”
Lawyer Slim Ben Achour cited research showing that white people in France are less likely to get stopped and frisked or fined for this kind of drug offense. The research also showed that police are more likely to carry out identity checks on Black or Arab men in housing projects known for crime, or in neighborhoods where the assumption is that they “don’t belong.”
“You see that you can be a millionaire or a super star and you always have this stigma,” Achour told The AP. “Black Americans have their own problems and some think that Europe is better, and they see that ... there are common problems.”
Harden and Lil Baby, whose real name is Dominique Jones, have been in Paris to attend fashion week, according to local media.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report