Russell Brand has been arrested for criminal damage after police in the US issued a warrant for him. The controversial comic was detained "without incident" in New Orleans and released shortly afterwards after posting bail, police said. Authorities had issued a warrant on a charge of simple criminal damage to property valued at £445 after a photographer accused the comedian of grabbing his iPhone and throwing it through a window.
Bail was set at £3,184, a spokesman for the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) said. Russell, 36, is in New Orleans to work on an untitled film. Remi Braden, director of public affairs at NOPD, said: "Officers picked up Mr Brand from Harrah's Casino, where he was working on the film. He was arrested without incident. "The comedian claimed he threw the phone as "a tribute" to Apple boss Steve Jobs who died last year. He grabbed it while a photographer was taking pictures of him in New Orleans on Monday and threw it away, smashing the window of a nearby office, according to website TMZ." Since Steve Jobs died I cannot bear to see anyone use an iPhone irreverently, what I did was a tribute to his memory," he later tweeted. The Essex-born star split from his wife, pop star Katy Perry, last year after 14 months of marriage.