White admits he smokes pot, says pilots motivated by 'extortion'
Controversy has been kind to Atlanta-based comedian Ron White, arrested Wednesday in Florida for drug possession.
"My ticket sales have spiked. My book sales have spiked. My record sales have spiked," White said Saturday in an interview at a Buckhead hotel.
The self-professed blue-collar comic was arrested by Vero Beach police and was charged with possession of less than three grams of marijuana. He was released that day on $1,000 bond.
White didn't deny the charges.
"I smoke pot," he said, adding that he was prescribed marijuana for medicinal use by his doctor in California. "I do what I can to manage my demons," he said between sips of a margarita.
Such candor comes as no surprise to White' fans. The 51-year-old entertainer is unapologetic about his partying and his scrapes with the law.
But until now he's been silent about his dispute with two former employees who piloted his private jet, the "Tater Air," for more than a year. The pilots have alleged that on May 11, as they flew over New York, an intoxicated White burst into the cockpit and threatened to fight them and crash the plane.
White denied the pilots' account.
"Do I look like somebody who wants to die?" he said. "My life is in my prime. I've never had more fun in my life than I'm having now."
White said he merely poked his head in to inquire about an unrelated issue – though he admitted that at the time, "I was in a foul mood."
The comic accused one of the former pilots, Scott Wolcott of Conyers, of having tipped off the police in Vero Beach, where he was arrested on the tarmac of a private air strip.
Wolcott denied the allegation when reached by telephone Saturday night.
White called Wolcott's motivation to have him arrested "extortion, pure and simple." He said Wolcott and pilot Chris LaPlante were demanding a sizable severance after he fired them in May.
He acknowledged the pilots' claim that they had asked him not to bring marijuana onto the plane in May, though he disputes their assertion that they had repeatedly asked him to stop smoking pot on the aircraft. White also said he didn't have marijuana with him on the aircraft May 11.
White's longtime opening act, Alex Reymundo, 43, who also was at the Buckhead hotel on Saturday, said the dispute between White and his pilots was never about marijuana use. Reymundo called the pilots "manipulators and opportunists."
White, a Texas native, owns a home in Atlanta. He rose to fame earlier this decade touring with fellow "Blue Collar Comics" Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall and Larry the Cable Guy.
About the Author
A native Atlantan, Boone joined the AJC staff in 2007. He quickly carved out a niche covering crime stories, assuming the public safety beat in 2014. He's covered some of the biggest trials this decade, from Hemy Neuman to Ross Harris to Chip Olsen, the latter of which was featured on Season 7 of the AJC's award-winning "Breakdown" podcast.
