An undated video, newly resurfaced online, appears to show Florida rapper XXXtentacion (Jahseh Onfroy) striking an unidentified woman in the head. Though Onfroy’s hairstyle suggests the footage may not be recent, TMZ reports that it has now come to the attention of prosecutors in his ongoing domestic violence case. Onfroy’s lawyer reportedly told TMZ that “the video was taken completely in jest” between friends.
As XXXtentacion, Onfroy is signed to a Captiol Records subsidary and currently holds the number one album in the U.S. with ?, his second full-length release. Last year, his debut album 17 reached number two, even as legal issues mounted: The 20-year-old Onfroy faces charges of aggravated battery against a pregnant woman, domestic battery by strangulation, and false imprisonment, as well as 15 charges of felony witness tampering in a separate but related case. In September 2017, graphic victim testimony from the domestic abuse case became public, describing a horrifying sequence of physical and sexual violence. Onfroy denied the allegations and appeared to mock them in a series of Instagram stories last year.
Onfroy’s trial was originally scheduled for December 2017 but has been delayed multiple times, seemingly in part to enable him to pursue his music career. The terms of his house arrest allowed him to visit a recording studio, and last week, he successfully petitioned a judge to release him from house arrest in order to tour. It’s not clear what effect, if any, the resurfaced video footage will have on Onfroy’s legal case.
