Melle Mel, one time member of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, was arrested in Los Angeles on Monday, Rolling Stone reports. He was charged with felony domestic violence and released after posting a $50,000 bond. The 62-year-old will return to court on July 17.

Mel is accused of striking a woman, Jori Jordon, in the eye after attending an afterparty for the 2023 BET Awards on June 25. Jordon spoke publicly about her allegations: “I was just sitting there, relaxing when suddenly this man struck me in the eye with his four ring-adorned fingers”.

Speaking to Rolling Stone, Mel acknowledged being in his hotel room with Jordon but says she refused to leave when asked. According to Mel, Jordon alerted him to an issue with her eye and asked him to take her to hospital. When he refused, he says, she told the police he assaulted her.

“It’s very simple,” Melle Mel said. “She said I punched her in the eye. She also said she had eye surgery a month ago. Had I punched her in the eye, especially with rings on, she would have had a cut eye. It would have been way worse. Something did happen to her eye, but I did not punch her. With me tussling with her and trying to get her away from me to get her out of the room, something happened.”

Beginning his music career in the late 1970s, Mel became a key figure in hip-hop as lead rapper in the pioneering group Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, performing songs such as The Message and later, as a solo artist, White Lines (Don’t Do It) which reached No 7 in the UK and spent 60 weeks in the Top 100.

In May 2022, his former band mate Kidd Creole was sentenced to 16 years in prison for manslaughter, after the killing of a homeless man in New York City.

Earlier this year Mel took part in the 50th anniversary of hip-hop performance at the 2023 Grammy Awards.