Suge Knight indicted for alleged threat
Angeles County grand jury on a charge of threatening to kill or seriously injure the director of the film “Straight Outta Compton.” Knight, 52, pleaded not guilty to the charge Thursday morning, according to a spokesman for the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office. Court documents show that the charges stemmed from an incident Aug. 8, 2014, and The Los Angeles Times reported that Knight had threatened F. Gary Gray, who directed the 2015 film. “Straight Outta Compton,” a biopic that focuses on the rise of gangster rap group N.W.A, features actor R. Marcos Taylor in the role of Knight. In the movie, as in real life, Dr. Dre, one of the group’s members, leaves N.W.A after hiring Knight as his manager and the two together form Death Row Records. Representatives for Knight have expressed dissatisfaction with the movie, which portrays him as unscrupulous and violent. Thomas A. Mesereau Jr., a lawyer for Knight, has called the story “exaggerated and silly and ridiculous.” Mesereau did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the new charge. Knight is already facing murder charges stemming from an episode in 2015 in which he ran over two men with his car, killing one and seriously injuring the other, close to the set where a promotional video for “Straight Outta Compton” was being filmed. Gray has said he has no relationship with Knight. A lawyer for Gray did not respond to a request for comment.