Grammy-nominated musician, actor, and entrepreneur Rome Daly has added yet another controversy to his already expansive list.
Recently released police bodycam footage appears to show 42-year-old Daly, who releases music mononymously as Rome, driving his Ferrari Daytona SP3 at speeds greater than 130 mph in a 50 mph zone. After being pulled over and confronted by an officer, the footage shows Daly’s two-year-old niece in a car seat on the passenger side of the car. When the officer asked Daly if he was aware that children in car seats were required by California state law to be in the back seat, he replied, “There is no back seat. Now, don’t you feel stupid?”
Despite being charged with both speeding and reckless endangerment of a child, Daly managed to come away from the situation with a speeding ticket, a suspended license, seventy-two hours behind bars, and the concealment of the incident from the public eye.
Perhaps even more startling than Daly’s slap on the wrist was the way the incident was received by his fans. Since the bodycam footage’s release, social media platforms have been rife with overflowing support for Daly and the leniency of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. “Finally, the law gets it right for a change,” “There’s literally no back seat,” and “ZOOM ZOOM!!!” were among the X replies to news of the incident.
The unwavering loyalty of Daly’s fanbase is due, in the words of actress Tori Salsbury, to his “prominent cult of personality.” Salsbury, who co-starred with Daly in 2017’s Exoplanet, harshly criticized Daly for his actions in the viral video. “We’ve come to expect this kind of behavior from Rome and his spite-driven lackeys,” wrote Salsbury on X, “but I must admit that I was still shocked to see him treat his own family this way. Everyone on the road and random passersby, sure, but I didn’t know he was capable of taking his hubris this far. Is nothing sacred to him?”
Salsbury has been an outspoken critic of Daly since 2020 when he was the center of a sweeping sexual harassment investigation that saw fourteen women accuse the actor of abuse. Salsbury and countless others have also criticized and demanded accountability from Daly for numerous other instances of misconduct. These include his derogatory comments about women and Latin American immigrants, shoplifting, illegal dog fighting, alleged elder abuse, and rhinoceros poaching in South Africa.
Academy Award-winning actress Deborah Daly, Daly’s mother, has also gone on record to denounce his behavior. “My son is a uniquely vile human being,” said the actress last year, “and if a mother is saying that about her own son, the only one she has, you’d better listen.”
Despite the latest controversy, business associates of Daly’s have hinted recently that he’s considering running for president in four years, a revelation that Daly’s supporters have met with widespread adulation. “That’s MY president,” wrote one X user. “2028 can’t get here soon enough,” wrote another, adding “I hope he starts a war!”
Featured image/photo by Nathan Shintas on Unsplash.