Aug. 3 (UPI) -- Former rap mogul Suge Knight pleaded not guilty to threatening to murder film director F. Gary Gray in Los Angeles Thursday.
Knight, the founder of Death Row Records, was indicted by a grand jury in Los Angeles County for allegedly threatening the life of Gray, who the jury found "was reasonably in sustained fear for his safety and the safety of his immediate family."
The charges stem from a 2014 incident in which Knight was "extremely unhappy with his portrayal" in the hit movie Straight Outta Compton, a biopic about the rise of rap group N.W.A., and allegedly sent Gray a text message threatening his life, reported the Los Angeles Times.
Knight has had several run-ins with the law in recent years.
In 2014, he and comedian Katt Williams were arrested for armed robbery in Las Vegas. The next year, he killed Terry Carter in a hit-and-run incident and was charged with murder. His trial is set to begin in January 2018.
Gray, the famed music video director-turned Hollywood filmmaker, has been on a different trajectory.
After 2015's Straight Outta Compton made more than $200 million on a $28 million budget, he returned to the big screen with The Fate and the Furious, which grossed $1.2 billion on a $225 million budget.
