Artie Lange Blames Broken Nose On Drug Abuse, Getting Punched & Kidnapped

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Artie Lange takes part in SiriusXM host Ron Bennington's annual Thanksgiving Special at Hard Rock Cafe - Times Square on November 14, 2017 in New York City.
Artie Lange reveals his nose's deformity is due to drug abuse and a run-in with a bookie.

Comedian Artie Lange, who's known for his work on the Howard Stern Show and MadTV, opened up on the reason why his nose is busted. The comedian appeared on "Are We Still Talking About This?" podcast and revealed that the reason his nose is deformed is due to his years of abusing drugs as well as a kidnapping related to a $62K debt.

Artie Lange revealed that reason why he doesn't have a septum in his nose anymore. His drug use is no secret to anyone and that did play a factor to why his nose is deformed. But, it's also related to a gambling debt that he owed a bookie which resulted in a kidnapping.

"I still gamble a lot. That was my worst vice for a long time was gambling because it led to everything else. I’m the kind of guy, it just escalates,” he said. "I owed a bookie 62 grand, and a kid who worked for a bookie, we’ll call him an African-American, he was collecting, and he thought I was a billionaire because he saw me on TV and he kidnapped me.”

He further explained that he knocked him out for 10 minutes before waking up in the kid's van. The kid allegedly wanted $100K but Lange told him to think twice about what he's doing since he's friends with the bookie. However, getting punched in the face and getting kidnapped is what ultimately screwed his nose up.

“It destroyed my nose,” he said. “The septum from the abuse from the years of drugs and this hit broke it and I’ve had two operations and you know, it’s just in bad shape. It’s a scar from years of s–t.”


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Aron A. is a features editor for HotNewHipHop. Beginning his tenure at HotNewHipHop in July 2017, he has comprehensively documented the biggest stories in the culture over the past few years. Throughout his time, Aron’s helped introduce a number of buzzing up-and-coming artists to our audience, identifying regional trends and highlighting hip-hop from across the globe. As a Canadian-based music journalist, he has also made a concerted effort to put spotlights on artists hailing from North of the border as part of Rise & Grind, the weekly interview series that he created and launched in 2021. Aron also broke a number of stories through his extensive interviews with beloved figures in the culture. These include industry vets (Quality Control co-founder Kevin "Coach K" Lee, Wayno Clark), definitive producers (DJ Paul, Hit-Boy, Zaytoven), cultural disruptors (Soulja Boy), lyrical heavyweights (Pusha T, Styles P, Danny Brown), cultural pioneers (Dapper Dan, Big Daddy Kane), and the next generation of stars (Lil Durk, Latto, Fivio Foreign, Denzel Curry). Aron also penned cover stories with the likes of Rick Ross, Central Cee, Moneybagg Yo, Vince Staples, and Bobby Shmurda.
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