According to the New York Police Department (NYPD), rapper/actor Mos Def was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct after MTV’s Video Music Awards ceremony because he put on an unauthorised show outside New York City’s Radio City Music Hall.

Rapper Mos Def reportedly performed a song in which he attacked US President George W Bush for his slow response to Hurricane Katrina last year. Mos Def and his entourage were arrested by the NYPD officers who cut the performance, however soon after the rapper was allowed to continue after other officers found out he was in possession of a public performance permit. The rapper/actor Mos Def was released from police custody in the morning of September the 1st and plans to release a video of the incident on the web.

Mos Def was unjustly arrested tonight while performing on a flatbed track in New York City outside the Video Music Awards. Mos Def was not out to break any laws. His only goal was to heighten the awareness of a serious situation that still exists in our country. He does not want people to forget that although it’s one year later, the people and cities hit by the hurricane still need the help of the American people.
- Carleen Donovan tells MTV -

I love this man and they should leave him ALONE.

Why, if we are a world of freedom of speech and love, must people hurt and critisize those who try to spread the message of love?

War is a quarrel between two thieves too cowardly to fight their own battle; therefore they take boys from one village and another village, stick them into uniforms, equip them with guns, and let them loose like wild beasts against each other.

The man who can face vilification and disgrace, who can stand up against the popular current, even against his friends and his country when he know he is right, who can defy those in authority over him, who can take punishment and prison and remain steadfast—that is a man of courage.