On Thursday (Aug. 31), the Wilkes-Barre Township Police Department shared a post alerting the public that a puppy was stolen from Brookside Pups. Lil Uzi Vert’s photo appeared on the post, indicating they were the suspect.
However, Uzi was wrongly named the puppy thief. The police department soon removed the photo of Uzi and added the right pic of the actual suspect, which is a different person with face tattoos.
The post naming the artist as the puppy-napper was only on the internet for about 30 minutes. However, half an hour is more than enough time for many people on social media to comment and, in this case, fans flooded the post to defend the Philadelphia rapper.
In a statement to TMZ, Brookside Pups said that the suspect in the dognapping is using Uzi’s face as their profile picture. This led the pet store to unknowingly send the wrong photo to the police.
Once the authorities realized the facial tattoos between the musician and the suspect did not match, they removed the pic from their Facebook page.
Fortunately, Uzi has an alibi to prove they were wrongfully named as the puppy thief. Roc Nation stated that the star was nowhere near the area at the time of the dognapping.
“The Wilkes-Barre Township Police Department should be embarrassed and ashamed for disparaging [Uzi’s] character. This grave error could’ve had significant repercussions on Uzi’s career and epitomizes how Black men can be wrongfully charged and arrested by police departments across the country,” stated Roc Nation.
The company also added that Uzi loves all animals, and this mistake delayed the arrest of the real suspect. “Our collective hope is that the puppy is safely and promptly rescued,” it added.
Ironically enough, police admitted that the suspect was last seen driving toward Uzi’s hometown of Philly.