(Los Angeles) British rock star Rod Stewart and his son Sean pleaded guilty to “assault” in an altercation with a Florida hotel security guard on New Years Eve in 2019 , the prosecution announced on Friday.
Neither man, however, was formally sanctioned.
The 76-year-old singer, known for his songs Maggie May or You wear it well, and his family were at the Breakers hotel in Palm Beach when they were denied access to a party held in a “children’s” section of the upscale establishment.
Rod Stewart was accused of hitting the guard overseeing the event in the chest when the latter refused to give in to his son’s protests.
The ex-singer of the Faces, recognizable by his hoarse voice and his blonde hair, was prosecuted for assault, a minor offense which is generally punished by a fine.
But after pleading guilty, the judge decided not to pronounce a sanction against the singer and his son, which means that they are not formally condemned and which at the same time avoids in court a long and expensive procedure.
“No one was injured in this incident and a jury did not find Sir Rod Stewart guilty,” the star’s lawyer Guy Fronstin told AFP in a statement.
The singer pleaded guilty to avoid an “embarrassing and unnecessary” public trial, he said.
The victim of the “assault”, Jessie Dixon, was not opposed to this solution, a spokesperson for the prosecutor told AFP.
Rod Stewart, who has more than thirty albums to his credit, was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2016. At the end of 2019, he revealed that he had successfully fought prostate cancer.
His son Sean, 41, is known for his sins and escapades. In 2002, he was arrested for assaulting a man in front of a restaurant in Malibu, a fight stopped by the intervention of actor Dean Cain, who played Superman in the television series Lois and Clark.
In 2015, he was arrested again at the Miami airport spinning on the luggage belt, in an area closed to the public.