Chilean rapper Cris MJ, one of the most listened urban music artists of the local scene, could face a sentence of between 3 to 10 years in prison for allegedly displaying a gun on social networks and threatening a music producer who hired him for a performance.
This was confirmed by the chief prosecutor of Iquique (northern Chile), Eduardo Ríos, in an interview for the local media ‘Las Últimas Noticias’, where he assured that the Chilean Investigative Police (PDI) is investigating to confirm whether or not he broke the law.
“It is ruled out that it is a firearm itself, but one hypothesis is that it is a weapon adapted to make shots, which would also violate the law of arms control,” reported the prosecutor of Iquique, where the artist gave the concert whose producer he threatened in networks.
The prosecutor explained that Cris MJ, interpreter of songs such as “Una noche en Medellín” or “Marisola”, appeared on Tuesday afternoon at a PDI barracks and that the agents made the entry and search of the artist’s home to complete the investigation.
The agents seized the gun that Cris MJ had exhibited in social networks, but ruled out that it was a firearm.
If it were confirmed that the gun exhibited in networks was an air gun and was not manipulated, remarked the prosecutor, the case for illegal possession of a weapon would be dismissed, but if it was adapted to shoot, Cris MJ could face a prison sentence.
Ríos explained that the weapons law punishes the possession and carrying of toy weapons, blanks, BB guns, bidders and compressed air guns adapted or transformed for shooting, with penalties ranging from three to 10 years in prison, depending on the aggravating and mitigating factors in each case.
The Chilean ‘trap’ artist, in a live broadcast from his Instagram this weekend, charged against the producer of a concert he offered last Friday in Iquique, to the north, who allegedly described the show as “economic ruin”, due to the few tickets that were sold.
“Be thankful that I made you the event ‘culiao’ (a popular Chilean insult) otherwise I would have left for Spain any day ago”, Cris MJ told the businessman while exhibiting an alleged gun, which led hours later to the Prosecutor’s Office to open an investigation against the artist.
Cris MJ gained international fame last year, at just 20 years old, after releasing “Una noche en Medellín” and entering the top 10 most listened songs on Spotify.
The singer, who has more than 18 million unique listeners on Spotify and performed with Colombian singer Karol G at the last Viña del Mar Festival, often appeals in his lyrics to violence and drug trafficking, and constantly uses obscene words.