A popular rapper and podcaster is once again under fire after his Edgewater neighbors filed a lawsuit against him alleging he tried to enter their home naked.
Joe Budden, creator and co-host of “The Joe Budden Podcast,” is being sued by his Bergen County neighbors who claim he attempted to enter their home while nude, according to TMZ, and has since harassed them.
John and Yuliya Aksoy claim Budden, co-host Melyssa Ford and the condo association have been colluding in a “campaign of intimidation and retribution” after the couple complained about his conduct to the condo board, per the report.
The Aksoys said they alerted Budden of their concerns about his crew’s excessive noise-making and marijuana smoking in the Edgewater building’s common area, believing it to be a health hazard for their young daughter. The neighbors say their objections prompted Budden to call them racist.
In December, Budden was charged with lewdness after Ring Doorbell camera footage showed the rapper-turned-podcaster walking through the building hallway naked and trying to enter a code into his neighbor’s door’s keypad several times before returning to his own apartment across the hall.
Budden was temporarily barred from the condo for the incident, but the Aksoys say he returned about a week later.
The “Pump It Up” rapper, 44, claimed that he was sleepwalking during the incident.
“I just sleepwalked somewhere that I shouldn’t have sleepwalked,” Budden said on a later episode of his podcast. “That’s what happened,”
Budden’s lawyer, Nima Ameri, told TMZ the Aksoys’ complaint is just a “money grab attempt by a person we believe to be a racist.”
A hearing date has not yet been scheduled for the civil suit filed against Budden.
The Jersey City native saw radio success as a rapper in the early 2000’s and has become one of the biggest music podcasters since launching “The Joe Budden Podcast” in 2015.
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