Grimm giveaway at gig

Rapper Diaz Grimm. Photo / Supplied

Rapper could face charges for offering joints to crowd.

A rapper who boasted of handing out 100 cannabis joints to the crowd at the Rhythm & Vines festival in Gisborne could face criminal charges.

A YouTube video showing Diaz Grimm giving out what he claimed were joints had attracted several thousand hits on YouTube before it was removed yesterday.

Police are investigating and say charges could follow.

Neither the musician nor his manager returned calls from the Herald on Sunday yesterday.

Festival spokeswoman Sara Cairney said the incident at the show and the video footage could have been a stunt to attract attention.

She said organisers only became aware of the incident after the festival had ended.

"So now we need to look at how it happened, and most importantly how to prevent it happening in future," she said.

"We do not condone drug use at our festival, and do work closely with police on this. We will be having a full debrief with both gate security and stage management."

The New Zealand rapper, whose real name is not known, said on Twitter he "handed out 100 Joints at my set at the recent new years festival I played at".

One festival goer claimed online the joints were made up of leaf rather than the more potent "skunk" or hydroponic forms of the drug.

Before the festival, police announced a crackdown on drug use. Yesterday a spokesman said:

"We are aware of the situation and are looking into what, if anything, can be done."

More than 27,000 people attended Rhythm & Vines, an R18 event, with police reporting excellent crowd behaviour overall.

cherie.howie@hos.co.nz