Wendell Pierce Responds To Battery Arrest: ‘I Regret That [It] Escalated To The Level That It Did’

By Brent Furdyk. Published: 17 May 2016 10:05 AM

Actor Wendell Pierce found himself behind bars after a political discussion turned heated and he ended up hitting a woman in the head over her support of Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders (Pierce supports Hillary Clinton).

As Gossip Cop reports, the incident took place at the Loews Hotel in Atlanta early this morning, when Pierce (whose credits include HBO’s “The Wire”; and “Treme”;, as well as playing Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in the recent HBO movie “Confirmation”;) was angered by a woman’s vociferous support for Sanders. This, claims Gossip Cop, apparently angered him enough that he allegedly struck her in the head. He was subsequently arrested for battery.

“Pierce was hanging out with an unmarried couple at the Atlanta hotel around 3:45 a.m. It’s unclear whether or not alcohol was involved,”; reports Gossip Cop, adding that Pierce allegedly “attacked the couple after the conversation became heated about the upcoming election. Pierce, a Hillary Clinton supporter, allegedly pushed the woman’s boyfriend before yanking on her hair and hitting her on the head.”;

The couple reportedly called hotel security, which led to police arriving on the scene and placing Pierce under arrest (he is apparently free after paying $1,000 bail).

Following the incident, Pierce took to Twitter to offer his own brief version of events, explaining that “what has been reported thus far differs in important respects from what actually occurred.”;

I regret that what started as a civil political discussion escalated to the level that it did. (1/3)

— Wendell Pierce (@WendellPierce) May 17, 2016

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Although what has been reported thus far differs in important respects from what actually occurred, (2/3)

— Wendell Pierce (@WendellPierce) May 17, 2016