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Flavor Flav Gets Popped for Illegal Fireworks in Vegas

By Brett Snider, Esq. on July 07, 2014 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

Flavor Flav may have some legal sparks to extinguish after an allegedly illegal fireworks display got him cited at his Las Vegas home.

The former Public Enemy rapper, born William Drayton Jr., has reportedly spent thousands of dollars each year since 2009 to set off fireworks for his annual Fourth of July celebration. But the festivities ended with Las Vegas Metro Police slapping Flav with two citations Friday night, reports the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Will Flavor Flav be going to jail for his fireworks show?

Cited for Pallets of Fireworks

Police arrived at Flavor Flav's home after neighbors called to complain about him setting off "three or four pallets of fireworks stacked four feet high" in the neighborhood, reports the Review-Journal.

Police confiscated the remaining fireworks (more than 100 pounds' worth) when they cited Drayton, although a police lieutenant was unable to give the exact citations the rapper received.

This wasn't the first time that Flav has been busted for his amateur Fourth of July fireworks shows. In 2013, TMZ reported that Flav amassed $8,000 worth of fireworks in preparation for the holiday, prompting police to pre-emptively shut the party down.

In most states, including Nevada, you can be arrested for illegally setting off fireworks. Police warned Flav in 2013 that they would arrest him if he set off a single firework, although officers simply fined him this year.

Las Vegas Fireworks Laws

In dry areas such as Las Vegas, residents are often worried about the fire danger presented by fireworks near their homes. Many of Drayton's neighbors were "terrified to leave their homes" during the Fourth, worried their houses would catch fire, reports the Journal-Review. In Las Vegas' Clark County, explosive fireworks and rocket-type fireworks are illegal.

It's likely that in the hundreds of pounds of fireworks that Flav procured that some of the pyrotechnics were of the illegal variety. In addition, shooting off fireworks in most places in Clark County past midnight on July 5 is also likely to be illegal.

While Flav feels that this Independence Day "Grinchiness" is ruining the traditions of the holiday, he's apparently planning to move next year's party out of the neighborhood.

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