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Big Freedia, officially not going to jail, announces tour (NJ & Brooklyn included)

Big Freedia
Big Freedia at FFF 2015 (more)

Last month it was reported that Big Freedia, who had been facing possible jail time over false income statements in regards to public housing vouchers, will be thankfully avoiding jail and instead getting three years of probation. Via the New Orleans Advocate:

Big Freedia, whose real name is Freddie Ross Jr., pleaded guilty in March to stealing nearly $35,000 in federal housing voucher money, admitting to fraudulently accepting Section 8 vouchers over a period of several years.

Prosecutors said the entertainer, in her applications to the Housing Authority of New Orleans, claimed assets and income far below what she actually was earning.

In her first bid for Section 8 assistance, in March 2009, she listed a monthly income of between $100 and $1,000 and no additional assets. Even after she had become a star, propelled to fame by her reality TV show, she claimed to have earned just $12,000 in 2014 and to have only $250 in the bank.

In addition to the probation, Freedia was ordered to pay a $35,000 fine. With that behind her, Freedia has now announced a new album and more tour dates. The album is called Pressing Onward, and it drops in early 2017. It’s prefaced by the single “Drop” with Diplo and DJ Snake, and you can watch the video for that song below.

Her upcoming tour includes the previously-discussed NYC show on October 21 at Brooklyn Bowl. On the whole tour, her shows will be opened by Tank and the Bangas and that band will also back her. Tickets for that show are still available. That show is two days after she plays Asbury Park’s House of Independents (10/19). Tickets for that show are on sale now too. All dates are listed on the tour flyer below.

Big Freedia