Four youths were
charged with a hate-crime assault on a gay singer who
was attacked as he left a Manhattan gay bar, police said on
Sunday.
Kevin Aviance,
38, who scored number 1 dance hits on the Billboard charts
with "Da Da Din" and, more recently, 2003's "Alive,"
was attacked late Saturday and repeatedly kicked by four
youths who called him "faggot." He suffered head
trauma and was in stable condition in a Manhattan
hospital, where he was being treated for his injuries.
Police charged
four young people aged 16 to 20 with hate-crime assault
and hate-crime harassment. They were being held pending
arraignment, police said in a statement.
Aviance told the
New York Post from his hospital bed that he
was especially distraught by the assault because he
had been scheduled to perform at a host of gay pride events
next week in advance of the city's gay pride march on
June 25. "I'm supposed to be doing all this stuff.
With my jaw wired shut, what can I do?" he was quoted
as saying.
Aviance, born
Eric Snead in Richmond, Va., told the paper his attackers
kicked him in the head a dozen times during the early
morning assault in Manhattan's East Village. "They
kicked me in my back, they kicked in my knees. They
just kept kicking," he said.
A friend of
famous singers like Janet Jackson and Madonna, Aviance has
appeared on Tyra Banks's television shows and has performed
at parties for Whitney Houston and Lil' Kim. (Reuters)