Lil Nas X pleads not guilty to attacking police officers as he walked naked on LA street

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Lil Nas X was charged Monday with four felonies after police say he charged at them when they confronted him for walking naked down a Los Angeles street last week.

The musician, whose legal name is Montero Lamar Hill, pleaded not guilty in a court appearance to three counts of battery with injury on a police officer and one count of resisting an executive officer, the district attorney’s office said.

The charges were far more serious than initial reports that he was being investigated for a misdemeanor, and, with convictions, the counts could collectively bring a sentence of more than 10 years in prison for the singer and rapper whose “Old Town Road” was one of the biggest hit singles in history.

Police said officers found the 26-year-old walking naked on Ventura Boulevard, a major thoroughfare in the Studio City neighborhood, shortly before 6 a.m. Friday. They say he charged at the officers when confronted and was arrested.

The criminal complaint filed in court Monday includes few details, but says that for each of the three officers he “did unlawfully use force and violence and inflict an injury” on a person he “reasonably should have known” was a peace officer “engaged in the performance of a duty.”

Police, suspecting a possible overdose, took him to a hospital where he spent several hours before being taken to jail, where he has remained since.

After spending three days in jail, he was released on $75,000 bail, conditional on attending drug treatment.

A message to his attorneys was not immediately answered.

But one of them, Christy O'Connor, told a judge Lil Nas X has led a “remarkable” life that has included winning two Grammy awards.

“Assuming the allegations here are true, this is an absolute aberration in this person’s life,” O’Connor said in court, according to NBC. “Nothing like this has ever happened to him.”

The charges were first reported by TMZ.

Lil Nas X is set to return to court on Sept. 15 for his next pre-trial hearing.

The rapper and singer from Atlanta is best known for 2018's country and hip-hop merging “Old Town Road,” which spent a record 19 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and won him his Grammys.

Known for his genre-bending, innovating sounds and style, his first full studio album, 2021’s “Montero,” went to No. 2 on the Billboard album chart and was nominated for a Grammy for album of the year.

Lil Nas X, whose legal name is Montero Lamar Hill, is arraigned in court on four felony counts, including three counts of battery with injury on a police officer, Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, in Los Angeles. (Frederic J Brown/Pool Photo via AP)

Lil Nas X, whose legal name is Montero Lamar Hill, is arraigned in court on four felony counts, including three counts of battery with injury on a police officer, Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, in Los Angeles. (Frederic J Brown/Pool Photo via AP)

Lil Nas X, whose legal name is Montero Lamar Hill, is arraigned in court, next to his attorney Christy O'Connor, on four felony counts, including three counts of battery with injury on a police officer, Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, in Los Angeles. (Frederic J Brown/Pool Photo via AP)

FILE - Lil Nas X performs at the Austin City Limits Music Festival on Oct. 8, 2022, in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Jack Plunkett/Invision/AP, File)

FILE - Lil Nas X appears at the WSJ. Magazine Innovator Awards in New York on Nov. 1, 2021. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)

FILE - Lil Nas X arrives at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Sunday, April 3, 2022, in Las Vegas. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)

FILE - Lil Nas X arrives at the 36th annual GLAAD Media Awards on Thursday March 27, 2025, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)

BEIJING (AP) — Breaking with the United States, Canada has agreed to cut its 100% tariff on Chinese electric cars in return for lower tariffs on Canadian farm products, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Friday.

Carney made the announcement after two days of meetings with Chinese leaders. He said there would be an initial cap of 49,000 vehicles on Chinese EV exports to Canada, growing to 70,000 over five years. China will reduce its tariff on canola seeds, a major Canadian export, from about 84% to about 15%, he told reporters.

“It has been a historic and productive two days,” Carney said, speaking outside against the backdrop of a traditional pavilion and a frozen pond at a Beijing park. “We have to understand the differences between Canada and other countries, and focus our efforts to work together where we’re aligned.”

Earlier Friday, he and Chinese leader Xi Jinping pledged to improve relations between their two nations after years of acrimony.

Xi told Carney in a meeting at the Great Hall of the People that he is willing to continue working to improve ties, noting that talks have been underway on restoring and restarting cooperation since the two held an initial meeting in October on the sidelines of a regional economic conference in South Korea.

“It can be said that our meeting last year opened a new chapter in turning China–Canada relations toward improvement,” China's top leader said.

Carney, the first Canadian prime minister to visit China in eight years, said better relations would help improve a global governance system that he described as “under great strain.”

He called for a new relationship “adapted to new global realities” and cooperation in agriculture, energy and finance.

Those new realities reflect in large part the so-called America-first approach of U.S. President Donald Trump. The tariffs he has imposed have hit both the Canadian and Chinese economies. Carney, who has met with several leading Chinese companies in Beijing, said ahead of his trip that his government is focused on building an economy less reliant on the U.S. at what he called “a time of global trade disruption.”

A Canadian business owner in China called Carney's visit game-changing, saying it re-establishes dialogue, respect and a framework between the two nations.

“These three things we didn’t have,” said Jacob Cooke, the CEO of WPIC Marketing + Technologies, which helps exporters navigate the Chinese market. “The parties were not talking for years.”

Canada had followed the U.S. in putting tariffs of 100% on EVs from China and 25% on steel and aluminum under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Carney’s predecessor.

China responded by imposing duties of 100% on Canadian canola oil and meal and 25% on pork and seafood. It added a 75.8% tariff on canola seeds last August. Collectively, the import taxes effectively closed the Chinese market to Canadian canola, an industry group has said. Overall, China's imports from Canada fell 10.4% last year to $41.7 billion, according to Chinese trade data.

China is hoping Trump’s pressure tactics on allies such as Canada will drive them to pursue a foreign policy that is less aligned with the United States. The U.S. president has suggested Canada could become America's 51st state.

Carney departs China on Saturday and visits Qatar on Sunday before attending the annual gathering of the World Economic Forum in Switzerland next week. He will meet business leaders and investors in Qatar to promote trade and investment, his office said.

Associated Press business writer Chan Ho-him in Hong Kong contributed to this report.

Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney, center, arrives to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian, Pool)

Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney, left, meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP)

Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney, left, shakes hands with China's President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP)