Scott Stapp of Creed claims to be broke, under ‘attack’; posts video

Scott Stapp, frontman for the band Creed, posted a video on Facebook early Wednesday saying he was broke and had been homeless and hungry at times since he conducted a financial audit eight weeks ago and discovered money was missing.

In the video, labeled “Scott Stapp of Creed, Public Statement #1,” the singer is calm and still while talking almost nonstop and smacking his lips repeatedly for nearly 16 minutes. The footage is in black-and-white with some sort of filter giving it a grainy appearance.

The “With Arms Wide Open” singer refers to a “pretty vicious attack” aimed at ruining his reputation with rumors he says are unfounded.

He says that “once the rumors started coming out” he started getting weekly blood and urine tests and is “sober as can be.”

A campaign to discredit him started, he says, after he discovered “a lot of money was stolen from me, or royalties not paid, and that’s when all hell began to break loose, so I think you guys are smart enough to put two and two together.” He blames unnamed individuals, the IRS and his banks for his money problems.

The IRS froze his bank account “two or three times” in the last four or five weeks, blaming a clerical error and leaving him “penniless,” Stapp claims. He alleges someone has transferred all the money out of his accounts.

“I don’t understand, again, why all this is happening to me, but between the IRS attacking me, between the banks basically saying, yeah, all of your money’s been taken out of your acccount and there’s nothing we can do,” he says. “I even told them I hadn’t eaten for two days and they wouldn’t even give me five dollars to get something to eat.”

Stapp talks about his rededication to Christianity and mentions his children, saying they are being “embarrassed and humiliated” by people who are “not their father.” He claims to be staying in a Holiday Inn after a stretch during which he had to live out of his car at times.

The musician repeatedly solicits legal help, saying he has all the documentation to prove his case and just needs a lawyer. His email address is the closing image on the video.

He says in the video that he’ll continue to post updates on the situation.

The Miami Herald reported Saturday that Jaclyn Stapp, the singer’s wife of eight years, filed for divorce recently and was seeking full custody of their three children after Scott Stapp allegedly disappeared from their home in October and went on a drug binge.

In court documents, the paper said, she alleged he had become paranoid from drug use and threatened to kill himself and harm his family. She also reportedly filed paperwork Nov. 11 to have him committed for substance abuse treatment; a hearing was to have been held Wednesday, the paper said.

A few of the text messages supporting Jaclyn Stapp’s divorce filing said, according to the Herald, “I’m coming to get you Satan and children,” “No mercy. You know how this ends. God created you and now God is ending you” and “Florida is not safe. Biological weapons on the way. U have to leave with kids and meet me in Atlanta.”

According to TMZ, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Department conducted a wellness check on Stapp last week and determined he and his wife were fine after talking to both of them.

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