Kevin Hart is in “complete disbelief” after a close friend was arrested for allegedly trying to extort him.
The Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle actor was stunned to learn Jonathan Todd Jackson, who is known as Action Jackson, had allegedly secretly videotaped him getting close to another woman in Las Vegas last August and then tried selling the footage to news outlets.
He tweeted: “Mind blown … Hurt … at a lost [sic] for words and simply in complete disbelief at the moment. WOW.”
According to TMZ, Jackson had been friends with Hart for over 15 years and was a guest at his bachelor party before the comic wed Eniko Parrish.
Jackson has been charged with attempted extortion and extortion by threatening letter and if convicted, he could face up to four years in jail.
Last September, Hart issued a public apology to his family after learning he’d been targeted in the extortion attempt.
The Central Intelligence star posted an emotional video in which he discussed his “mistakes” and claimed there was someone trying to make “financial gain” from his past antics.
He said in the Instagram post: “I’m at a place in my life where I feel like I have a target on my back. And because of that, I should make smart decisions. And recently, I didn’t. You know, I’m not perfect. I’m not going to sit up here and say that I am or claim to be in any way shape or form. And I made a bad error in judgment and I put myself in a bad environment where only bad things can happen and they did. And in doing that I know that I’m going to hurt the people closest to me, who’ve I talked to and apologized to, that would be my wife and my kids. And I just, you know, it’s a s—ty moment. It’s a s—ty moment when you know you’re wrong and there [are] no excuses for your wrong behavior. At the end of the day man, I just simply have got to do better. But I’m also not going to allow a person to have financial gain off of my mistakes and in this particular situation that was what was attempted. I said I’d rather fess up to my mistakes.”
The 38-year-old actor vowed to “do better” for the sake of his family.
He captioned the post: “Sending so many apologies to my wife & kids. I gotta do better and I will. I’m not perfect and have never claimed to be … I love you all.”
