“I was looking around like ‘What fool brought a gun?’ ” –Memphitz Wright
When Toya Carter’s husband, Mickey “Memphitz” Wright, was detained by TSA agents at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport last week for carrying a gun in his backpack, he advised his wife to continue on to Las Vegas without him, but she refused to leave her husband.
He recently called in to Atlanta’s V-103 Frank & Wanda Show to explain what happened, why he was transported from the airport in handcuffs, how the arrest reflects on him as a VP at Sony Music, and how Toya reacted to him being detained.
I’m embarrassed about it, I’m not proud of it … It’s not something I’m going around parading about. It really was a simple mistake … it was a big mistake.
I have a license. I went and took the time and got my license. It’s just for protection and self-defense only, to protect my family. That’s what I was taught to do. I’m not driving around like a hoodlum out there. I usually have it locked up in the house or in my car when I’m traveling. So I took it out of my car and put it in my backpack and put it in the house. I hadn’t traveled in a week or so, and me and my wife were traveling. So we were headed to the Magic show in Las Vegas. We we’re rushing like “I can’t miss this flight.” So I picked up my computer and my bag and just went to the airport.
First of all, I would’ve never pushed my bag through the scanner. I’ve been traveling too long and I’ve transported guns before. Somebody was like, “Somebody got a gun; it’s a gun in this bag.” I was looking around like “What fool brought a gun?”
And Toya was looking at me like “It’s in your bag.”
“No, it’s not.” Then I started remembering and I was like “Ohhh, No! I put the …”
Officer Davidson, which thank you he really didn’t put me through the embarrassment of anything. He was like “I can feel your spirit and can tell you’re not into that type of stuff.”
I was like “Man, I never would’ve … but I know you gotta do what you got to do.”
I told [Toya] she could go ahead and go to Las Vegas. She said, “I’m not leaving you.” I love my wife.
I was embarrassed walking through the airport. I saw a part of the airport I’ve never seen before. I didn’t even know it existed but they had me locked up in there for a little while. They took me out and he was like “all right, I got to put the hand cuffs on you now because it’s procedure.”
I usually don’t ever say “never” but it will NEVER happen again. That ain’t even my character. My whole life I’ve been on a straight path of doing what I do and all of sudden that.
I still have to handle this with my job. I’m the vice president at Sony Music. I don’t know how they’re feeling about the situation. It was a misdemeanor. The judge told me she understood my situation so I just told her “It will never happen again.” That’s not who I am, that’s not what I put out there. I put out positivity, motivation, making sure kids is on the right path and that’s what I’m about. I would never do that.
Toya standing by her man in a not-so-cute situation that interrupted her trip to one of the biggest fashion conventions in the world shows that she’s quick to put her husband before business, and the fact that Mr. Wright took the time to publicly clarify this situation speaks volumes about his character.
Good look, Memphitz. People who are against gun ownership will still complain about you having a weapon in your bag, but since you are an American with a constitutional right to bear arms, it’s good to see that you have taken the responsibility of acquiring the legal permit.
