Gary Busey pleads guilty to sex offense at NJ horror convention
Actor Gary Busey has pleaded guilty to a sexual offense stemming from an appearance at a 2022 horror convention in New Jersey, according to his representatives and court records.
The 81-year-old “Buddy Holly” star's manager, Ron Sampson, said in an email Friday that the actor admitted to touching a woman's buttocks “over clothing during an 8-10 second photo op.”
Busey entered a guilty plea to a single count of criminal sexual contact during a virtual hearing in state court in Camden on Thursday.
The actor had been accused of inappropriately touching at least three women at the Monster-Mania Convention at the Doubletree Hotel in Cherry Hill, a South Jersey town and suburb of Philadelphia.
Organizers of the event acknowledged at the time that an unnamed celebrity guest was “removed from the convention and instructed not to return” and that affected attendees were encouraged to contact police.
Busey had been scheduled as a featured guest for all three days of the event. He was initially charged with two counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual contact, one count of attempted criminal sexual contact and one count of harassment.
Busey’s lawyer, Blair Zwillman, confirmed Friday that the other charges were dropped as part of a plea deal reached with prosecutors. The actor faces up to five years’ probation and fines when he is sentenced Sept. 18.
“In my view Mr. Busey was ‘overcharged’ probably based on his star status,” Zwillman said in an email. “He could have just as easily been charged with the disorderly persons offense of harassment by 'offensive touching'.”
Spokespersons for Camden County prosecutors didn't immediately respond to an email seeking comment Friday.
Busey is widely known as a character actor, largely in supporting roles, though he came to attention and was nominated for an Oscar for best actor for playing the title role in the 1978 film “The Buddy Holly Story.”
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Orlando Bloom won’t testify at Katy Perry’s trial over $15 million mansion
Orlando Bloom won’t be required to testify at ex-fiancée Katy Perry’s upcoming trial regarding the $15 million mansion she bought from an elderly Texas millionaire, who later claimed he wasn’t in the right state of mind to make such a deal.
Los Angeles County Judge Joseph Lipner ruled Friday that 85-year-old Carl Westcott’s efforts to put Bloom on the stand served no purpose other than to “make it a celebrity circus,” Rolling Stone reported.
Westcott had sought for the “Pirates of the Caribbean” alum to testify in the case, claiming he had information that was relevant to arguments over millions of dollar of repairs that Perry said were necessary due to damage done between the years she purchased the property and when she actually took over control.
Judge Lipner said it was not necessary for Bloom to be questioned about the repairs, and that Westcott should instead broach the matter with “the construction person who actually did it.”
The legal saga all started in July 2020 when Westcott tried to back out of the sale just days after signing the contract with Perry. He claimed to have been on painkillers and suffering from dementia symptoms that would make him unfit to finalize the deal.
At a liability trial in 2023, the judge ultimately ruled that Westcott was perfectly competent at the time he signed the contract. Perry was finally given the keys to the property in April 2024, though she claims extensive repairs due to “lack of maintenance” over the previous four years — as well as the loss of rental income — set her back nearly $6 million.
Perry is seeking to be reimbursed, arguing that Wescott was responsible for handing over the home in the condition it was in when she bought it. Wescott claims Perry never provided final receipts for the repairs that were done, and instead only gave estimates.
The 40-year-old Grammy nominee is expected to testify during the bench trial beginning on Aug. 21 to determine how much she’s owed in damages. Westcott had said Bloom too should testify because he was present for the spring 2024 home inspections and allegedly said he’d be in charge of handling the repairs on Perry’s behalf.
The latest development comes nearly a month after Perry’s representatives released a joint statement confirming that she’d ended her nine-year, on-and-off relationship with Bloom, to whom she got engaged in 2019.
The “Firework” singer and the “Lord of the Rings” star share 4-year-old daughter Daisy.
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Soulja Boy arrested on suspicion of weapons charge during a traffic stop
Soulja Boy was arrested early Sunday following a traffic stop on suspicion of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm.
Soulja Boy, 35, whose real name is DeAndre Cortez Way, was a passenger during a traffic stop at 2:35 a.m., police said, and was arrested. Way was booked into jail in the Los Angeles Police Department’s Wilshire Division a little after 6 a.m., according to the sheriff department's inmate database.
Additional information on what prompted the stop and who else was in the vehicle was not immediately available, police said.
A representative for Way did not immediately respond to the Associated Press' request for comment.
The Chicago hip-hop artist is best known for his 2007 single “Crank That (Soulja Boy),” which went to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and brought him a Grammy nomination for best rap song.
The rapper was recently ordered to pay more $4 million in damages in April after being found liable for sexually assaulting and physically and emotionally abusing a former assistant.
From combined wire services