Celebrity Justice
Why Jermaine Dupri Ended Up in a Cop Car

UPDATE: Dupri, who refused to return TMZ's call for comment, issued the following statement to another news outlet:

"Just to set the record straight, I was pulled over because the police said my exhaust pipes were too loud, I had tinted windows and platinum motor plates. Nothing more, nothing less."

OK Jermaine, but it still begs the question, who the hell gets put in the back of a police car for tinted windows?!

For more than a day, TMZ has been asking the L.A. County Sheriff's Department why deputies pulled Jermaine Dupri over and then put him in the back of a cop car before releasing him. The best answer we've gotten from one of the deputies who made the stop -- "It's personal ... it's none of your business."

The rapper and music mogul was pulled over as he drove his Lamborghini Tuesday afternoon in West Hollywood. His passenger was also taken to the cop car and placed in the back. The doors to the vehicle were all wide open when cameras arrived.

A number of TMZ users have been speculating that it's a case of racial profiling. One user wrote, "It's the cops hating again. Paris is going to jail so it's time to start hating blacks driving $250k cars."

A spokesman for the Sheriff would not comment. Interestingly, neither would Dupri's rep.



Tags: JD, Jermaine Dupri, JermaineDupri

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(Page 5 of 5) Previous 15 Comments

61. A white boy from the South here. He is getting in the front, not the back, and he is not in cuffs. Most likely he was being interviewed and issued a ticket. If they suspected him of something other than what he claims he was cited for (a felony) he would be cuffed, placed under arrest and transported to see the judge. I would say he is telling the truth.

Posted at 7:38AM on May 11th 2007 by Mike

62. Hey they're just doing their job. The law is color blind. My son is a white cop in a mid-west state. Last Christmas he, his wife, and infant started out to get to my house on christmas eve morning. The baby was cranky and wailing loudly. Since it was 2:00 am and the road was dark and traffic-free, my son began speeding at about 75 mph. Suddenly he sees the flashing bar lights catching up to him. The cop stopped him and proceeded to ream my son out for speeding even though he saw my son's wallet badge. Yes my son did get a speeding ticket.

Son took his punishment like a man. No racial profile complaint. That citing cop was black.

When son got to my house and I heard what happened, he got reamed out again - this time from me. That was my grand-baby in there.

Posted at 12:42AM on May 11th 2007 by Mother Badger

63. Police often put people in their cars. It appears he's being put into the front seat, not the back. Also it's not as if he's cuffed or anything. If the cops wanted to search his car for some reason (and none of us were there- we don't know why they would or wouldn't want to do that) then the squad car could quite possibly have been the safest place for the officer to place the driver as opposed to standing them on the side of the road. Not to mention it's best for the officer's safety as well.

I do believe that racial profiling is a horrible thing that unfortunally happens in the country daily but on the other hand we as society are sometimes too quick to jump onto the whole race bandwagon at times. We simply do not know enough about this occurrence at this time to create intelligent opinions as to what happened.

Posted at 2:11AM on May 11th 2007 by Radar

64. The cops just wanted to check out the car. No profiling...how could they know who he was if the windows were tinted so dark.

Posted at 9:28AM on May 11th 2007 by Fletcher

65. He was probably getting a headjob from the female passenger. Hence the "personal" aspect.

Posted at 11:37AM on May 11th 2007 by Isn't it OBVIOUS

66. we have no idea why he was pulled over...maybe he was driving erratically, maybe his tabs were expired, maybe they recognized him and wanted an autograph...could it have been racial profiling? Well yeah, anything is possible without the facts...but from what I've seen in the video chances are he got pulled over more because his clothes/presentation didn't fit the style of the car--and I don't care what color your skin is, its a pretty good indication that its not your car.

Posted at 10:41AM on May 11th 2007 by Ginger Gargoyle

67. I think it's interesting how several of the bloggers are ignoring the obvious here. This is the kind of racial profiling that happens every day of the week to black men. It's not a race card, it is reality. Whether you want to believe it or admit it, discrimination still occurs in this country particularly in police stops. Jermaine was not pulled over for speeding, driving wrecklessly, driving without registration or insurance, running a red light, turning without a signal, etc. He was pulled over because of features on his car. Other reasons are license plate lights are too dim, license plates are dirty, etc. They will find any reason so stop black men in nice cars who don't look like they should be driving them for the sole purpose of searching for drugs. As you see he didn't get the standard, "let me see your license and registration." He was put in the back of a squad car until they saw cameras and new they needed to find out who they were dealing with.
EVERYTHING AIN'T A DANG RACE CARD PEOPLE!

Posted at 12:29AM on May 12th 2007 by Bird

68. I love how everybody turns EVERYTHING into something racial.........should i bust out my violin for poor mr. dupree?

Posted at 3:06AM on May 12th 2007 by st83

69. Look very closely, he's getting into the front and I don't see any cuffs. Looks to me like he got his car impounded and he needs to go to the station and pay a fine and have those problems fixed. Period. Some people are completely full of S*@! sometimes.

Posted at 10:45PM on May 12th 2007 by Kyle

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