Cops Wrestle Wiz Khalifa to Ground for Riding "Hoverboard" at LAX

Sometimes all it takes is one man to start a revolution, and in rapper Wiz Khalifa's mind, he is that one man. The revolution in question, however, is the silliest one imaginable -- even for the guy who composed the theme for Furious 7 -- seeing how it's centered around a mode of transport called a "hoverboard."

While the details are still a bit sketchy, here's what we do know: on Saturday, August 22nd, Wiz Khalifa was detained by police at Los Angeles International Airport after refusing to dismount his "hoverboard." You can view the moments before and during the confrontation for yourself, thanks to the COPS-circa-1995-quality videos below:
 


 

 

3 cops yell stop resisting. Only thing to do is let em know. I'm not resisting, I'm doin what I want.

A video posted by Wiz Khalifa (@mistercap) on

Fortunately, nobody actually beat the Wiz that day. What they did do, however, was inspire him to go on Twitter afterwards and voice his frustrations at being victimized for embracing a futuristic technology that "everyone will be using in the next six months." In the man's own words:
 

Now, at this point it's worth mentioning that the "hoverboard" Wiz was, well, whizzing around LAX on isn't the Marty McFly vision of the future brought to us in BTTF II; it's more like a small-scale Segway with no handlebars, which sells under many different brand names (like IO Hawk, Future Foot, and our personal favorite, Phunkeeduck). Presumably, though, this board doesn't work on water either, so there's that.

What's more, Khalifa isn't the only one using these things: everyone from Justin Bieber to Nicki Minaj has been seen riding them -- in fact, as The Verge reports, Soulja Boy (he of "tell 'em" fame) sells his own variety of "Souljaboards" for $1,500 a pop. So, while it may be true that everyone will be riding mini-Segways in six months, let's all agree on a basic truth: if it needs wheels, it ain't a hoverboard.


Gianni Jaccoma is a staff writer for Thrillist, and he’s still waiting for legit hoverboards to arrive. Follow his technophilic tweets @gjaccoma, and send your news tips to news@thrillist.com