Flavor Flav Avoids Domestic Violence Trial

Flavor Flav has entered a guilty plea in his domestic violence dispute. The former rapper and reality television star, whose real name is William J. Drayton, was arrested in 2012 after an argument with his girlfriend escalated into a physical altercation that involved her 17 year old son and a kitchen knife. The plea deal allows Drayton to avoid felony charges that would put him in jail for several years.

Let that sink in. Drayton was arrested after an argument that escalated into a physical altercation involving her, a 17 year old, and a kitchen knife, but will avoid jail time. Instead, he will have to stay out of trouble for a year and attend 12 domestic violence counseling sessions with his fiancee's son — you know, the one he allegedly went after with the knife while shouting death threats? Drayton has denied that portion of the story actually happened, but shouldn't the fact that it's even a part of the story at all be enough proof that he shouldn't be allowed near the kid at least?

His plea bargain involved a guilty plea to "attempted battery with substantial bodily harm and battery constituting domestic violence", which "along with... credit for the time he served in jail after he was arrested and before he was released on bond" was enough to allow him to walk away with nothing more than a year's probation.

Flavor Flav originally became famous as a member of the rap group Public Enemy in the 1980s before making the jump to reality TV shows, the best known among them being VH1's Flavor of Love. In it, women would compete to receive one of Drayton's iconic clock necklaces and his affections in a celebrity version of The Bachelor.

Flavor Flav isn't the first celebrity by far to face domestic violence charges. It seems like everyone is in on this disturbing trend, from Emma Roberts punching her boyfriend in the nose to 127 Hours subject Aron Ralston getting booked on domestic violence charges of his own. Perhaps the truly disturbing part of the story is that he's unlikely to be the last.