Evidence of Dilated Peoples is speaking out against The Los Angeles Times, who recently ran a cover story about the arrest of a notorious Los Angeles graffiti artist, but mistakenly ran a picture of the rapper/producer on the front page.
Police arrested Cyrus “Buket” Yazdani on felony vandalism charges for his daring works of graffiti, including one highly publicized videotaped incident, in which Yazdani is seen spray painting on a Hollywood Freeway overpass.
The mishap occurred after Evidence, born Michael Perretta, who was approached by Yazdani to do a drop [a short promotional word on film] for a clip titled “War 4.”
The promotional words were edited and then featured as the intro of Yazdani’s infamous hair raising YouTube clip, in which he spray paints his tag over the 101 Freeway in Los Angeles as cars speed by.
Since his arrest and the article, Evidence’s image has been featured regularly on television stations like CBS 9, ABC 7, KTLA 5, NBC 4 and other news outlets.
“I only met Buket once when I was asked to do a promo for an internet show, however I’m obviously not him and find it humorous how the media didn't take the time to figure this out before running such an extensive story," Evidence told AllHipHop.com in a statement.
Evidence, who is preparing to tour nationwide on the “Fresh Rhymes & Videotape Tour,” is seeking a full retraction from the various outlets who have mistakenly ran his image and associated him with the criminal acts of Yazdani.
“In my line of work anytime someone asks me for a recorded or live video promo I’m always glad to do it,“ Evidence said. “I have co-signed thousands of Internet, Radio and TV shows as well as various other forms of media. This could have happened to any entertainer, not just me.”
Police accuse Yazdani of spray painting hundreds of freeway overpasses, walls and buses, including one infamous incident in which he tagged a moving bus in front of stunned onlookers.
He is charged with causing over $150,000 dollars in damage.
Yazdani was booked into the Los Angeles County jail and faces multiple felony vandalism charges.
