Florida A&M homecoming concert promoter Willie ‘Will the thrill’ McKenzie was arrested late Thursday night after he entered the WANM radio studios to confront an on air personality over comments she made about the upcoming event.

FAMU police cited McKenzie, president of Double Trouble Entertainment Inc.,  for trespassing, then handcuffed him after a routine check showed he was wanted on an outstanding warrant for violating his probation. McKenzie was released from Leon County Jail Friday morning, according the county sheriff’s office Web site.

The incident occurred before 10 p.m Thursday when McKenzie entered the School of Journalism and Graphic Communication building with two other men, walked to the third floor and entered the radio station studio through a side door that was left unlocked. At the time, Deidra ‘Dee Dee Roc’ Fields was on the air for her three-hour show.

“I was standing outside waiting to get into the building when three guys walked to the door and tried to get in…they seemed upset,” said Faran Foy, 19, a Florida State English student from Jacksonville. Foy, The Famuan online editor was in the building working on the newspaper’s Friday online edition.

Public domain photo

Hurricane Chris

[The original concert headliner, Gucci Mane, was unable to appear because of a pending court case for alleged probation violation. Read story.]

McKenzie has been criticized by some students for the lyrics of the rappers in the concert line-up. Fields raised the issue during her show.

“She [Fields] basically said she had good news and bad news…Li’l Webbie was confirmed for the concert but Hurricane Chris’ management said they were not 100 percent confirmed,” said disc jockey Natasha ‘NB’ Britton, who was in the studio at the time of the incident.

Within minutes Fields received a call from McKenzie asking what happened.  Ten minutes later he was at the station confronting Fields about her commentary.

“I saw someone walk by the studio door…I asked him [McKenzie] how he got in the station…he told me don’t worry about that,” said Britton, 23, a graduate business student from Fort Lauderdale.

Fields immediately dialed 9-1-1.

McKenzie said the station was criticizing the concert and that would ultimately hurt ticket sales.

“Nothing negative was said about the concert on the air,” said Sean Woods, WANM operations manager. “The homecoming concert will not be mentioned on the radio.”

Student Activity and Service fees fund the annual event.

“They [Double Trouble] had the best proposal and best interview during the selection process…our entire process has been transparent,” said SGA President Gallop Franklin.

Benjamin Evans III writes for The Famuan, the Florida A&M University student newspaper, which originally published this article.