Social media star in court over drug and threat charges
A SELF-ST YLED DJ from Huddersfield has appeared in court accused of possessing drugs and using threatening behaviour.
Michael Bamforth, better known as DJ Smile, is a social media sensation and has amassed millions of views of his videos.
One film shot outside the Job Centre in 2012 showing him performing some freestyle rapping amassed 1.8 million views on YouTube.
The 48-year-old appeared at Kir- klees Magistrates’ Court charged with possession of cannabis and using threatening or abusive or insulting words or behaviour.
The alleged offences happened at Swan Lane in Lockwood on November 28.
Before entering the courtroom for the hearing Bamforth, who calls himself “the main man from Huddersfield” kept staff and court users entertained on the concourse.
He told an Examiner reporter “It’s stressful being a genius you know” and repeated his claim to magistrates during the brief hearing.
His solicitor Ian Whiteley asked
Mr Bamforth would say there’s a lot of people in the Huddersfield area after him and he’s
being bullied
for the case to be adjourned due to potential mental health issues.
He told magistrates: “He goes by the name of DJ Smile Bamforth as a result of a video which was taken of him at the Job Centre doing some rapping.
“That went viral and as a result of that Mr Bamforth would say there’s a lot of people in the Huddersfield area after him and he’s being bullied.”
Mr Whiteley explained that Bamforth, of Greenwood Street in Primrose Hill, claimed that he was psychic and could read the minds of himself and the bench. He asked magistrates to adjourn the case for reports to be obtained and they agreed to do so until February 1.
Bamforth told the Examiner that he was tired of not getting paid and hoped the case would help raise his profile, adding: “I’ll be in Ibiza next year!”