LOS ANGELES (AP) — A judge has allowed Lil Nas X to enter a mental health diversion program intended to lead to the dismissal of charges of attacking Los Angeles police officers.
Judge Alan Schneider told the “Old Town Road” rapper and singer on Monday that if he sticks to his treatment program and obeys all laws for two years, his four felony counts will be dismissed.
The court found that the incident was the result of his since-diagnosed bipolar disorder and was an aberration from his usual behavior.
The program, formally known as postponement of prosecution probation, also requires that he not possess guns or threaten violence.
Authorities allege that the 26-year-old was walking naked down a street in LA’s San Fernando Valley in August, and charged at police officers who were responding to calls about him. A criminal complaint says three officers were hurt. Photos and video apparently shot before the police confrontation showed him walking in the street in only white briefs and white boots.
He pleaded not guilty to three felony counts of battery with injury on a police officer along with one count of resisting an executive officer.
A few days later in a video posted to Instagram, Lil Nas X, who was free on bail, said “these last four days have been terrifying” but reassured fans that he would be fine.
Outside court on Monday he told Rolling Stone, which first reported on the diversion agreement, that he is “thankful. Just very thankful,” and that it “could have been much worse.”
The District Attorney's Office did not respond to a request for comment.
The Atlanta artist 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 two Grammys.
Known for his genre-bending, innovating sounds and style, Lil Nas X's 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. Other hits have included “Industry Baby” and “Montero (Call Me by Your Name).”
FILE - Lil Nas X appears at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Beverly Hills, Calif., on March 2, 2025. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)
FILE - Lil Nas X, whose legal name is Montero Lamar Hill, appears in court charged with four felony counts, including three counts of battery with injury on a police officer in Los Angeles on March 12, 2026. (Daniel Cole/Pool Photo via AP, File)
North Carolina is working toward finalizing a deal with NBA championship-winning coach Michael Malone to lead the Tar Heels' basketball program, a person with knowledge of the situation said Monday.
The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the school hasn't publicly discussed its search. Malone would replace Hubert Davis, who was fired March 24 after five seasons as the successor to retired Hall of Famer Roy Williams.
ESPN was the first to report UNC moving toward hiring Malone.
The 54-year-old Malone spent 12 seasons as a head coach in the NBA, including a 10-year run in Denver. He led the Nuggets to the 2023 championship behind three-time league MVP Nikola Jokic.
The Nuggets fired Malone last spring with less than a week left in that regular season. Almost a year to the day, in another surprise move, Malone is on the verge of taking over a blue-blood program with six national titles, a record 21 appearances in the Final Four and alums including Michael Jordan, James Worthy Vince Carter and Atlantic Coast Conference career scoring leader Tyler Hansbrough.
UNC now has big-name former pro coaches leading its two highest-profile programs. The Tar Heels hired six-time Super Bowl champion Bill Belichick as their football coach in December 2024. Belichick struggled to a 4-8 record in his debut season.
Davis’ firing opened one of the top jobs in college basketball for only the fourth time since the late Hall of Famer Dean Smith’s retirement after 36 seasons in October 1997.
The job had stayed in the “Carolina Family” ever since. Longtime assistant Bill Guthridge replaced Smith, followed by former UNC player Matt Doherty, former Smith assistant Williams and then Davis, who played under Smith and worked on Williams' staff.
Names like Arizona’s Tommy Lloyd, Michigan’s Dusty May and Chicago Bulls coach Billy Donovan — who led Florida to the 2006 and 2007 NCAA titles — had been linked to the job since Davis’ firing. Lloyd announced Friday at the Final Four that he would return to the Wildcats while praising UNC for “the way they’ve handled this.”
Three days later, the search had turned in an unexpected direction with Malone, who has never been a college head coach and has spent most of his career in the NBA. His primary connection to UNC athletics is the presence of daughter Bridget on the Tar Heels’ volleyball team.
During an October appearance on the UNC athletic department’s “Carolina Insider” podcast, Malone recalled hearing his late father, NBA coach Brendan Malone, talk often about Smith and UNC basketball. He also mentioned attending multiple recent practices and Davis asking him to speak to the team at least once.
“I’ve always been a Carolina fan,” Malone said. “And when (Bridget) decided to come here that made it even that much more special, because now I’m ‘Go Heels’ for everything. I root for all the teams, have fallen in love with Chapel Hill.”
Malone's time in the NBA included a brief stint in Sacramento, where he was fired in December 2014, just 24 games into his second season. He also worked as an assistant with the New York Knicks, Cleveland Cavaliers, New Orleans Hornets and Golden State Warriors.
Malone had stints in college as an assistant at Oakland, Providence and Manhattan. He spent only one season in the Atlantic Coast Conference, working as director of men's basketball administration at Virginia under Pete Gillen in 1998-99.
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FILE - Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone stands on the sideline during the second half of an NBA basketball game April 1, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)
