Time has not been kind to Nelly.
And, if we’re to believe recent accusations against him, Nelly has not been kind to others in return.
Early yesterday morning, he was arrested for allegedly raping a woman on his tour bus.
He’s currently on tour with Florida Georgia Line, and the arrest happened a few hours after a show in Washington on Friday night.
According to a statement from local police, a woman called 911 at nearly 4:00 AM and reported that Nelly had sexually assaulted her.
After officers arrived on the scene and did some investigating, there was apparently enough evidence to make an arrest, and Nelly was taken into custody.
There wasn’t enough evidence to hold him though, and a few hours later he was released.
His lawyer then made a statement saying that “Nelly is the victim of a completely fabricated allegation.”
“Our initial investigation,” he explained, “clearly establishes the allegation is devoid of credibility and is motivated by greed and vindictiveness.”
“I am confident, once the scurrilous accusation is thoroughly investigated, there will be no charges.”
The lawyer added that “Nelly is prepared to pursue all legal avenues to redress any damage caused by this clearly false allegation.”
So far it’s obviously a pretty serious case of he-said, she-said, right?
But now Nelly is speaking on his own behalf.
Shortly after the news broke of his arrest, he hopped on Twitter to defend himself.
“Let me say that I am beyond shocked that I have been targeted with this false allegation,” he began. “I am completely innocent.”
“I am confident that once the facts are looked at, it will be very clear that I am the victim of a false allegation.”
“I do want to apologize to my loved ones for the embarrassment and for putting myself in a situation where I could be victimized by this false and defaming allegation,” he wrote.
Nelly also thought it was important “to thank my fans for their unwavering support.”
“They know me,” he said. “I assure you I will be vindicated. And I assure you, I will pursue every legal option to address this defaming claim.”
“Thank you.”
And just in case you didn’t follow that statement his lawyer wrote for him, he added “In other words y’all know damm well I ain’t do no dumm S^*t like this..!! Love ..!!!!”
About an hour after making those tweets, he logged back on to clear up an extra bit of confusion.
“To be absolutely clear,” he wrote, “I have not been charged with a crime therefore no bail was required. I was released, pending further investigation.”
At this point, it’s hard to say who’s telling the truth.
Nelly and his team could be right, this woman could have made up this whole story.
But then again, Nelly could be doing his best to cover up his crimes — let’s be real, it’s not exactly unprecedented for a celebrity to use his fame as a way to prey on women like this.
Guess we’ll just have to wait and see how this plays out.
