Catching you up on Katt Williams’ legal and professional troubles would take all day, and since we’re into that whole brevity… thing, let’s just stick with Christmas and New Year’s. So after his ill-fated roadtrip up the California coast and to Seattle ended with canceled shows, random slappings, and a high-speed tricycle chase, Williams was bailed out by Suge Knight, and we were hoping things would settle down for Katt. Because what surer sign of stability exists than hanging out with Suge Knight? Sadly, shockingly, incredibly, stability seems not to be the case. Williams’ legal troubles have followed him right to the end of 2012, with nightclub brawls, a tax lien, child endangerment charges, possession of stolen firearms, and worst of all, parking tickets.
Williams started out slow, the Friday before Christmas, when cops were called over an alleged disturbance and Williams received a ticket for parking in front of a fire hydrant outside a Subway restaurant in West Hollywood, where Katt was getting some food while he waited for Suge Knight to finish getting a mani-pedi. Williams was cuffed but not arrested, while Suge was detained for his own outstanding parking tickets. Not for nothing, his cuticles looked incredible. Cops took some of Williams’ weed and an empty clip for a .45, but he wasn’t cited because he had a medical marijuana card. TMZ had cameramen on the scene, because why wouldn’t they? I hear that’s the hottest Subway in town.
About a week after that, the IRS hit Williams with a tax lien, saying he owes $4 million in back taxes. In his defense, he has been eating at Subway to keep his food costs down and having Suge Knight drive him around to save on taxis.
Days after that, police did a “welfare check” at Williams’ home, where they found multiple firearms, one of which had been reported stolen, and he was arrested for suspicion of child endangerment and possession of a stolen firearm.
At some point after that, Katt, who seems to have a permanent detail from TMZ following him, weighed in on Quentin Tarantino’s use of the N-word in Django Unchained.
Williams didn’t voice his opinion in a polite way like Spike Lee did. First he threatened to punch QT in the face, then told us, “Quentin Tarantino thinks he can say the N-word. But I checked with all of Ni**adom and nobody knows where he got his pass from. I hope he didn’t get it from Samuel L. Jackson and Jamie Foxx cause they aren’t going to help you when I see you.”
When our photog tried to compare QT to Steven Spielberg (who made “Amistad” in 1997), Katt shot back, “Quentin Tarantino is no Steven Spielberg. Steven Spielberg doesn’t wanna be black, Quentin Tarantino thinks he is. So when he meets a real ni**a, we’ll see if he is or not.” [TMZ]
Katt doesn’t seem to differentiate between characters in a Tarantino movie saying the N-word and Quentin actually going around calling random black people N-words, but la di da, tell me more about this TMZ photographer who’s seen Amistad. Talk about a renaissance man. That’s like finding a prostitute who programs computers.
After that, Williams was with Suge Knight again at Eden nightclub in Hollywood, where they were involved in what TMZ called “a MASSIVE brawl.” Though to me it looks more like a bunch of people crowding around the celebrities and Suge Knight shoving a guy trying to take his picture. He bumped some people with his car on the way out, but that’s why you don’t stand in front of a car, stupid. Which isn’t to say he won’t still get sued for it.
Which brings us to today when, as far as I can gather, Williams has managed not to get arrested in the last 24 to 48 hours. Baby steps.
To sum up, it’d be a little unfair to just dismiss Katt Williams as some incorrigible crazy person, when he clearly has camera urchins, police, and random herds of slack-jawed yokels following him everywhere he goes just waiting for him to do something crazy. That said, going to nightclubs with Suge Knight when you’re trying to stay out of trouble is like starting your diet at the pie factory. Where, coincidentally, I hear Suge Knight is a regular.