Hootie & The Blowfish’s Darius Rucker Opens Up About Arrest In Tennessee: “I Think Somebody Wanted To Make An Example Out Of Me”

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Darius Rucker is opening up about his arrest earlier this year. The Hootie & the Blowfish founder was arrested in April on misdemeanor drug charges in Tennessee.

“It shocked me,” Rucker told People in an interview. “My friends who were in the police department were like, ‘Have you pissed somebody off up here? Because this is crazy that they’re doing this a year later.’ But I think somebody wanted to make an example out of me, and they did.”

Rucker continued, “I’m handling it with my lawyers. And paying the price, and we’ll move on with our lives. It sucks. Fifty-seven years, never seen inside of a police car or jail, and I get busted for that.”

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The singer had previously been pulled over in February 2023 for expired tags. During the encounter with authorities, they found marijuana and psychedelic mushrooms in his car (Recreational marijuana is not legal in Tennessee). He was released without charges, but a warrant for his arrest was issued in December 2023.

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Rucker is working on his new memoir, which includes his past issues with substance abuse, to which he says, “I hope my journey pleasantly surprises people and makes them go, ‘Wow.’ Not a lot of people know a lot about me. They know my music and what I do, but they don’t know how you got there.”