Foxy Brown Forced to Apologize in Court for 'Making Faces'

NEW YORK – Rapper Foxy Brown was handcuffed, threatened with jail and made to apologize Friday after she opened her mouth and stuck out her tongue in the direction of a judge who asked her to stop chewing gum.

Judge Melissa Jackson told Brown that she was showing disrespect to the court and had previously been "making faces" at the judge.

"I don't like her attitude," Jackson told Brown's lawyer Joseph Fleming.

Brown, 25, who was in court to plead guilty to a misdemeanor from a ruckus at a nail salon, denied she was chewing gum. But the judge said she believed Brown was.

At that, Brown opened her mouth and wagged her tongue as if to show her mouth was empty. Jackson ordered the rapper handcuffed to the defendants' bench along a courtroom wall.

While Brown was being handcuffed, she and a female court officer yelled at each other. Brown shouted that the numerous bracelets and bangles on her left wrist "are in the way," and, the judge said, Brown struck the officer.

Jackson told Brown to apologize, explaining to her attorney that without an apology, she would hold Brown in contempt of court, meaning she could be jailed for up to 30 days and fined $1,000.

The rapper, both hands cuffed behind her back, appeared before the judge and said, "I apologize for my actions."

Brown, whose real name is Inga Marchand, came to court with a plea deal and expected to get a nonjail sentence stemming from a fight over a manicure bill in a Manhattan nail salon. The deal hit a snag, apparently because Jackson was unsatisfied with Brown's plea statement.

Assistant District Attorney Gary Galperin had said he believed the statement was legally and factually flawed, indicating that he believed Brown had not accepted enough blame for the fracas.

Jackson set a Jan. 23 hearing date for Brown. She is accused of assaulting two nail salon workers on Aug. 29, 2004, in a fight over payment for a manicure. Prosecutors alleged that she attacked and kicked one worker and hit a second worker in the face.