While America's Got Talent is in the middle of trying to find the most skilled act for its most recent season (while avoiding controversies like this), one winner from years past has gotten into a mess of trouble. Season 6 victor Landau Eugene Murphy was arrested on Monday evening and charged with domestic battery and domestic assault after his girlfriend was taken to the hospital Monday evening for injuries suffered to the head and face. Something big went down, but it's not exactly clear what.
Here's how things played out from the girlfriend's side. According to a complaint filed with the Logan County Magistrate Court, the pair got into a verbal altercation inside of Landau Eugene Murphy's home in the Whitman area of West Virginia, and then things got physical. It's alleged that Murphy struck the woman with a golf club, and he's said to also have slapped her and slammed her head into the sidewalk. According to the Charleston Gazette-Mail, the complaint stated she was later treated for bruising snd swelling at the Logan Regional Medical Center.
But that's not how things went at all, according to Landau Eugene Murphy's manager, Burke Allen, who emailed a statement that claimed Murphy was actually the victim here. The reality show winner says that the girlfriend actually attacked him with the golf club, as well as a knife, and he claims that any bruising she received came solely from him defending himself, and that he did not strike her at all. (There's an actual quote form him about being raised to respect women, which would just be adding insult to injury if the charges against him are legitimate.)
In the response statement, Landau Eugene Murphy claims that the reason the argument began in the first place is because the girlfriend and her family and friends completely trashed his house, which was not the first time such a thing happened. It's reported that police found potting soil scattered throughout the lawn and the home -- the soil had also stained the girlfriend's clothes -- and a golf club was found in the living room.
On Monday evening, Murphy was booked in the Southwestern Regional Jail, and was later released on a $3,500 bail, and he apologized to his fans and West Virginia citizens in his statement, saying the incident never should have happened. He obviously became a local celeb after winning America's Got Talent, and his victory afforded him performances all over the world, as well as other accolades. It's sadly nothing new to see former reality stars getting into trouble for one reason or another, though competition winners tend to see it happen less than more "serialized" unscripted fare, like anything on TLC.
The couple have a six-month-old child together, and apparently the infant was present during the altercation, according to the complaint. Hopefully not paying attention to any of it, though.
It'll be interesting to see what happens next with this case, and I'm sure Landau Eugene Murphy's fans are anxious to see how it plays out. In the meantime, you can catch the wild and wacky current season of America's Got Talent airing Tuesday nights on NBC at 8:00 p.m. ET. And for all the other new and returning shows hitting the small screen soon, head to our summer premiere schedule.
