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Two-time Academy Award-winning actor Markell Richmond was the subject of a Los Angeles Police Department wellness check on Sunday after a weekslong string of erratic and uncharacteristic behavior. Fans of Richmond’s began noticing that he was behaving unusually on social media over two weeks ago and suggested intervention from law enforcement early on. It wasn’t until the Creed V actor’s aunt contacted the police that the check was put into motion.
LAPD Chief Gus Long confirmed with the press that the check was successful and that Richmond was okay. “Everything seemed to be in order during our visit,” said Long, “aside from the fact that he appeared to be practicing on a set of turntables and playing music very loudly. He was playing some sort of electronic music. House music, I think. I didn’t know that he did that.”
Richmond’s aunt, who met with our reporters but asked us not to share her name, wasn’t at all surprised to hear that particular piece of information.
“Of course, that’s what he was doing,” she told us. “Something’s been really off about him lately. I don’t want to say exactly what’s on my mind because I don’t know if it’s appropriate, but I think a lot of people understand what I’m getting at here. He just hasn’t been acting…like himself. Last week he decided to put a black hoodie on, pull the hood up, and pace back and forth in this really rich gated community in Hollywood Hills. If I were his mother, God rest her soul, I’d have beaten the Black off of him for doing something like that, not that it seems like he needs any help.” When asked to explain what she meant by this, Richmond’s aunt hurried on to her next point.
“Or there was a few days ago when he called me just to tell me that he thinks Michael Jackson is ‘overrated.’ What the hell is wrong with him? That’s the King you’re talking about, boy.”
Concern over Richmond’s well-being began when he replied to a video on Twitter that demonstrated “Five Things Every Black Driver Should Know When Being Pulled Over.”
“This is so stupid!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What an unnecessary video! I always keep my registration in my pocket because the glove compartment is too far, and I haven’t even been shot ONCE!!!!” tweeted Richmond in response.
Last Thursday, the paparazzi caught the actor in a tank top and sweatpants leaving a Bank of America in Los Angeles. When asked what he’d been doing, Richmond replied that he was “applying for a loan.”
“Something just isn’t firing correctly in his brain,” lamented Richmond’s aunt. “He knows damn well that he can’t act the way he’s been acting without consequences, but he isn’t acting like he knows that. I can’t tell you how worried I am about him. And I don’t even know what to make of what happened at that McDonald’s. I’m sure that for someone of his status, photographers can be annoying, and he has a right to be annoyed. But you can’t go around throwing Big Macs at them, especially if you look anything like him. The boy was buying Big Macs just to assault people with them. You can’t make that up. Who told him he was Britney Spears? It sure as hell wasn’t me.”
Richmond’s fans remain concerned after the wellness check, with new worries surfacing after a bottle of Head and Shoulders shampoo was seen in the background of a video the actor posted on Instagram.
“You think that’s bad?” said his aunt. “He told me he might head east for a while so he can get some jogging done in the snow. God help the child.”