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.
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.
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.
The 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.
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.
