Country Star With No. 1 Song: I Was Jailed for Being 'Lippy'

Zach Bryan apologizes for incident with police officer in Oklahoma on Thursday
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Sep 8, 2023 12:33 PM CDT
Country Star With No. 1 Song: I Was Jailed for Being 'Lippy'
Zach Bryan arrives at the Academy of Country Music Awards on May 11 at the Ford Center in Frisco, Texas.   (AP Photo/Jeffrey McWhorter, File)

Country music star Zach Bryan was arrested by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol and jailed briefly Thursday in northeastern Oklahoma, according to a video posted on his account on the social media site X, formerly Twitter. Bryan said he was driving through Vinita, about 55 miles northeast of Tulsa, when his security guard, who was driving behind him, was stopped by an officer, per the AP. Bryan, who's from Oologah, about 25 miles northeast of Tulsa, said he also stopped and, after 10 to 15 minutes, got out of his vehicle to smoke a cigarette. That's when, he said, the officer told him to get back inside the vehicle or be taken to jail.

Bryan said he cursed at the officer, who then handcuffed him and placed him in the patrol vehicle. "I get too lippy with him," Bryan said. "I'm just mouthing off like an idiot." He added that the officer was "just doing their job." Bryan said he spent "a few hours" at the Craig County Jail before being released on bond, and that he spoke to the officer and shook hands with him before leaving. In an earlier post on X, Bryan wrote he was "truly sorry to the officers" and that he was out of line.

"I don't think that I'm above the law. I was just being disrespectful. ... I was just an idiot ... and it won't happen again," Bryan said in the video. He added on X: "I was just frustrated in the moment, it was unlike me and I apologize." A representative for Bryan didn't immediately return messages Friday morning for comment. Court records don't show formal charges have been filed.

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Bryan earned his first No. 1 album earlier this week. Billboard reports Bryan's self-titled album moved 200,000 units this past week, putting it at the top of the Billboard 200 albums chart. Bryan, in a duet with Kacey Musgraves, currently has the No. 1 song on the Billboard Hot 100 with "I Remember Everything." (More country music stories.)

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