Badu News for Erykah: Charge Coming for Naked Video Romp

Dallas authorities will cite her for disorderly conduct for stripping down in Dealey Plaza

Maybe Erykah Badu should have kept her antics on the grassy knoll.

The singer is going to be cited for disorderly conduct for going au naturel in Dealey Plaza, the site of John F. Kennedy's assassination, for her video for "Window Seat," the Dallas Police Department announced Friday.

"The statements from the witness would rise to the level of disorderly conduct," Deputy Chief Mike Genovesi said. "The issuance of a citation is pretty routine for that charge."

According to reports, a woman filed an indecency complaint after she and her two young children witnessed Badu stripping down for a climactic scene in her video.

But in the end, it wasn't public nudity at a notorious historical site per se that got Badu busted.

"To shoot that video, they would have had to get a special-events permit from the events office, and it would have had to specify what type of filming they were doing, what subjects they would use and any traffic control they would need," Dallas Police Department Senior Cpl. Janice Crowther told MTV News this week.

"They definitely did not get a permit," she said.

Badu is facing a possible fine if found guilty of disorderly conduct, a Class C misdemeanor, which is akin to a traffic ticket.

City authorities admit, meanwhile, that no one probably would have batted an eye if Badu hadn't gotten naked.

"None of this would have occurred had she stayed clothed," Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway told the Dallas Morning News. "But since she didn't, it elevated the need for making sure that we have policies in place that will protect folks and the integrity of the city as best we possibly can."

Badu's peeps have not commented on the citation, but "Window Seat" directors Coodie and Chike told MTV that Badu was ready to be arrested on the spot last month.

"I think she really wanted to get arrested and even make a bigger message," Coodie said.

(Originally published April 2, 2010, at 4:30 p.m. PT)