A man who performed rap songs on YouTube, including one about the Jan. 6 riot, was arrested and charged this week with storming the U.S. Capitol after being turned in by a relative, authorities say.
The relative told the FBI that Billy Knutson was a rapper who sold his music online and has a YouTube channel under the username “Playboythebeast,” an FBI agent said in a court filing. A second source provided video to authorities which showed a man, who was later verified as Knutson, going into the Capitol by climbing through a window.
“This channel posted several videos of KNUTSON performing songs, several of which were about the events at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. The artist performing the songs on this YouTube channel is consistent in size, tattoos, and appearance with the person who was depicted climbing into the Capitol building in the submitted video, based on my observations,” a special agent for the FBI wrote, the court filing says.
One of the songs posted on Knutson’s YouTube channel is called “Patriots: Message To The World.” In the video, which has more than 60,000 views, Knutson can be heard singing “We’ve been fighting for y’all and this how you treat us/Calling us traitors and claim we not peaceful/Say we hypocrites and we ain’t practice what we preachin’.”
Messages posted on Knutson’s YouTube channel under the username “Playboy The Beast” expressed support for the far-right Proud Boys.
Additionally, a cellphone number that Knutson used on an economic application submitted to the state of North Carolina matched the number for a cellphone that was near the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, according to the FBI affidavit.
