A hip-hop star who exposed himself publicly three times on a flight blamed being vegan for his moment of madness.
Desiigner, whose real name is Sidney Royel Selby III, was arrested after the incident on a first-class Delta flight from Tokyo to Minneapolis in April and sentenced to 120 hours of community service, a $5,000 fine and two years of probation.
Her manager has previously blamed exhaustion from her trip to Japan, as well as marijuana, magic mushrooms and medication for an undisclosed illness from a Thai hospital.
But now the 27-year-old has said the incident was actually due to “low blood sugar” which he claims was brought on by his vegan diet.
Desiigner, whose real name is Sidney Royel Selby III, is pictured above in the podcast interview where he blamed veganism for his actions on the flight.
Rapper Desiigner, 26, admitted in court to stripping and masturbating on a flight in April last year. He is pictured above in a Manhattan courtroom in 2016, after being charged with menacing, possession of a controlled substance and brandishing a weapon. Pictured in 2016
Speaking on the No Jumper podcast, which interviews rap artists, the Grammy nominee said: “I didn’t know what I was doing, I was completely crazy.”
‘That was when I was vegan, I didn’t have enough sugars and stuff like that, so, yeah… I was like out of my body.’
The New York native added that he had also consumed mushrooms before the flight and said he did not know how to properly dose the substances, which are illegal in the US.
There is little evidence that a vegan diet can cause such antisocial behaviour; doctors say it is a “novel excuse” that “fails the smell test”.
But doctors suggest substances such as alcohol and drugs can be much more potent at 42,000 feet because of a drop in oxygen levels.
According to Billboard, the music artist had been in Thailand last Friday to take the stage at the Rolling Loud festival and then performed in Tokyo. Photographed in 2017 in Los Angeles.
Checking into a facility: In the wake of the event, Desiigner said he checked himself into a mental health facility after the incident, sources told TMZ at the time; seen in May 2022
Oxygen levels in airplane cabins are about four percent lower than on the ground, which also causes blood levels to drop.
This causes blood to rush to the brain to compensate and the metabolism to slow down, causing the substances to have a more potent effect.
Responding to suggestions that the episode was caused by veganism, Dr. Stuart Fischer, an emergency physician in New York City, said it was a “poorly constructed excuse with no scientific basis.”
He told DailyMail.com: ‘It’s a novel excuse, but it wouldn’t work in an elementary school and it certainly doesn’t pass the smell test.
‘A vegan diet is all carbohydrates, I’m not saying it’s healthy or not, but those who eat it have no alterations in intonation, expression, speech, way of walking and certainly no lewd behavior.’
Desiigner switched to veganism in 2020 at the height of the Covid pandemic, saying in a February Interview “It had changed my life” and “put me on a better path.” It is unclear when she abandoned the diet.
On Delta’s 12-hour flight in April last year, Desiigner was exposed to between 60 and 90 minutes of the flight.
He covered himself up, but then exposed himself a second time, prompting flight attendants to ask him to stop, which he did, and informing him that he would be arrested when they landed.
He then exposed his genitals for a third time, leading the singer to the back of the plane, where, as he was being transported, Vaseline fell from his pants.
Following his arrest in Minneapolis, the New York native told the FBI he “didn’t have much luck” in Japan and was “really hard up” after becoming attracted to a flight attendant.
He said that by exposing himself he hoped that people would be attracted to his “magic wand.”
After the flight, he checked into a mental health facility and said he was “ashamed” of his actions and had not been feeling well for “the last few months.”
He was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis in September after pleading guilty to a federal misdemeanor charge of indecent exposure after being caught exposing himself and masturbating during the flight.
Previous reports had suggested he would be placed on the sex offenders’ register, although his representative denies these allegations.
The Timmy Turner singer’s lawyers previously said in court documents that he was dealing with “dehydration, exhaustion from touring and traveling, marijuana he ingested and medication he received at a hospital in Thailand.”
He has since been banned from flying internationally and has repeatedly apologized to the crew and all passengers on the flight for his actions.
She said during the podcast: “I wasn’t in the right place. I was just having a lot of fun and I wasn’t controlling myself at the time.”
“I came home and started getting better. Time to read more, time to go hiking, time to exercise, time to get myself in shape and build a mental camp for myself so I can get everything in order.”
He also says he is now 100 percent sober.