The “Selfie Kid” who snapped a viral photo with Justin Timberlake at the end of the singer’s 2018 Super Bowl halftime show spent this past Super Bowl weekend differently.
Ryan McKenna, now 18, was arrested Saturday at a shopping mall in Naples, Florida, where he was allegedly drunk and fighting with friends inside a California Pizza Kitchen, according to TMZ.
A 15-year-old boy greeted cops at the restaurant and reportedly told them that he and the social media star, whom he called a friend, had been in an argument that escalated, with McKenna allegedly standing up and aggressively pushing their table.
He supposedly screamed obscenities at the boy’s girlfriend, too.
However, McKenna’s mother, Tracy, told the outlet that her son was not under the influence and he was play-fighting with his friend after one of them pulled Ryan’s chair out from under him.
Cops also said that McKenna tried again to fight with the 15-year-old again while they were talking to the boy, according to TMZ. McKenna was allegedly asked to step away but kept after him until police took him aside to calm him down.
McKenna reportedly became aggressive with law enforcement, waving his arms, yelling and trying to approach the 15-year-old boy, while they tried to explain to him that shopping center security wanted him escorted off of the property.
They said they attempted to restrain McKenna, but he allegedly continued yelling and tearing cops’ hands off of him.
Officers claimed to TMZ that McKenna resisted arrest, saying he still fought back before they were able to handcuff his hands behind him.
According to his arrest records, McKenna was arrested on felony battery of a law enforcement officer, plus two misdemeanors: resisting an officer without violence and battery of an officer.
He was booked at the Collier County Sheriff’s Office and released on bond on Super Bowl Sunday.
McKenna is due back in court on March 6.
A few months after his viral 2018 moment with Timberlake, the two reunited for a new selfie when the singer performed in Boston that April. During a post-Super Bowl appearance on the “Ellen DeGeneres Show,” McKenna had been invited to meet up by the former boy band member.