Mission: Impossible — Fallout star Ving Rhames revealed he had a startling encounter with police earlier this year that left him at gunpoint in his own home.
As Blavity points out, Rhames, 59, recently appeared on The Clay Cane Show to promote the upcoming action film that he appears in as Luther Stickell. He and Cane began discussing racism and how it affected him, even with the level of fame he has achieved though Pulp Fiction and the Mission: Impossible franchise.
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Rhames revealed that earlier this year, police responded to his home after a neighbor called the police claiming a “large black man” had broken into the home.
“This happened this year. I am in my home, it was around 2:15 p.m. in the afternoon,” Rhames said. “I have a screen door and then I have a wooden door…. I’m in my house, I’m in a pair of basketball shorts only. I have two English bulldog puppies. I hear a noise in my backyard, but I’m thinking the puppies are just running around, and then I get a knock on the front door.”
He continued, “I open the door and there is a red dot pointed at my face from a 9-mm. [Police] say put up your hands, literally. I just walked and opened up the door….Then they said ‘open the front screen door.’ They say do it with one hand so then I have to do it with one hand. My hands are up and they have me outside.”
After having a gun pointed at his head and taken out front, the situation was luckily resolved. One of the responding officers recognized Rhames from a high school basketball game each of their sons had faced off in.
Police and Rhames then headed to his neighbor’s home to let her know that the man in question was Rhames, the owner of the house. The woman then denied ever placing the 911 call.
Even though the situation was peacefully resolved, it caused Rhames to think of the worst case scenario. In particular, he was worried about his son, comparing the situation to the controversial killing of teenager Trayvon Martin in 2012.
“What if it was my son and he had a video game remote or something, and you thought it was a gun,” Rhames said. “Just like, I don’t know, Trayvon had a bag of Skittles.”
Photo Credit: Skydance Media
