Nunchuck-wielding maniac attacks podcaster, is promptly cut loose by NYC judge who also freed alleged subway assailant

Bryant Kenyatta attack
Bryant Kenyatta attack

A nunchuck-wielding nutjob with a lengthy rap sheet attacked a podcaster in Midtown — but was promptly cut loose with no bail by a Manhattan judge, The Post has learned.

Bryant Kenyatta, 50, apparently left podcaster Stevie Lew with a fractured arm in the unprovoked attack at Seventh Avenue and 35th Street around noon March 12 — after following Lew and screaming, “F–k you! I’m going to f–k you up,” the victim said on a podcast.

But Kenyatta — who has 12 prior arrests — was put back on the streets Tuesday on supervised release by Judge Marva Brown, the same judge who made headlines two months ago for setting another alleged violent attacker free.

Stevie Lew was attacked by a man with nunchucks in Manhattan on March 12, 2024. X / @StevieLewIsBack
Stevie Lew was attacked by a man with nunchucks in Manhattan on March 12, 2024. X / @StevieLewIsBack
Lew’s injury from the attack. X / @StevieLewIsBack
Lew’s injury from the attack. X / @StevieLewIsBack

Brown previously freed Amira Hunter, who was accused of bashing a subway cellist in the head with a metal bottle.

Hunter was rearrested days later.

Kenyatta attacked after allegedly following Lew and threatening him, the victim said on an “MLC Podcast” episode.

“So I was like, ‘OK, buddy, why don’t you get the f–k out of here,'” said Lew, 41.

Instead, Kenyatta whipped out a pair of nunchucks and swung for his face.

“He was swinging for my head and I raised my arm to block it,” Lew, of New Rochelle, told the podcast.

Bryant Kenyatta has twelve prior arrests. Obtained by NY Post
Bryant Kenyatta has twelve prior arrests. Obtained by NY Post
The suspect Bryant Kenyatta was released by Judge Marva Brown (above). Michael Nagle
The suspect Bryant Kenyatta was released by Judge Marva Brown (above). Michael Nagle

He said police responded quickly and gave chase but Kenyatta got away.

The NYPD zeroed in on him Monday and charged him with felony assault and criminal possession of a weapon, police sources told The Post.

At his Manhattan Criminal Court arraignment, prosecutors requested Brown set cash bail at $100,000, but the judge struck it down, instead freeing Kenyatta — who has a previous conviction for assault as a hate crime.

Kenyatta had 12 prior arrests before the nunchuck attack. X / @StevieLewIsBack
Kenyatta had 12 prior arrests before the nunchuck attack. X / @StevieLewIsBack

In 2019, Kenyatta allegedly pulled a switchblade on a 32-year-old man waiting for a Lyft, shouted an anti-gay slur and told him to move “or I will kill you and your dog,” sources said.

Sources said a decade before that incident, Kenyatta spit on a man waiting for an M train in Bushwick while yelling homophobic slurs.

While the 24-year-old victim called 911, Kenyatta continued his tirade, screaming “you can tell the police I spit in your face” before dropping a slur.

They both then boarded the train.

Moments later, Kenyatta shoved him off the train and whacked him in the back of the head with a retractable baton, sources told The Post.

He was caught weeks later and charged with hate crime assault, which is a felony. 

Tuesday’s decision echoed the order the judge had given for alleged subway attacker Hunter, who had two bench warrants out for her arrest at the time.

The caught-on-video subway attack at the Herald Square station went viral and left 29-year-old cellist Ian S. Forrest traumatized.

“I hadn’t touched my cello since being attacked in the NYC subway…until today,” he posted on X weeks after the terrifying encounter.

Brown notably let loose a suspect who attacked a subway cellist with a metal bottle in February. Michael Nagle
Brown notably let loose a suspect who attacked a subway cellist with a metal bottle in February. Michael Nagle

Since the attack, he vowed he’d never return to playing in the subway system.

“Two attacks in less than a year is two too much,” he said on Instagram.

“I have been punched, choked, and now bashed in the head.”

Kenyatta, of Queens, is expected to return to court May 14.