In what police are describing as a “targeted attack,” little known rapper Snug-E was hugged, squeezed and nuzzled in excess of 57 times as he live-streamed a video on a downtown sidewalk Tuesday.
Witnesses say the rapper was gesturing forcefully at the camera and projecting toughness, when three vehicles converged and an unspecified number of assailants unloaded a barrage of hugs and embraces on Snug-E until he eventually collapsed on the sidewalk.
“Oh, they hugged the shit out of that dude,” said one witness. “All I saw was these boys pull up, and I thought this is going to be trouble. Then they started hugging on him and shit.”
Despite having only a handful of followers on YouTube, video of the attack went viral attracting hundreds of thousands of views. Mysteriously, though, the rapper lost nearly half of his 32 followers in the wake of the incident.
Reached for comment as he lay recovering in the hospital, Snug-E denied being the rapper in the video, claiming his hospitalization was the result of a shootout with a rival rap group and not a preplanned group hug.
“Unfortunately, Snug’s career will probably never recover from this incident,” said one industry insider. “To be caught on video in a hail of snuggles and warm embraces is something he’ll probably never live down.”
If there is something 