Date 2019-08-03
Category Entertainment
A Swedish court released US rapper A$AP Rocky on Friday pending the verdict of an assault trial that has outraged his fans, a decision that was quickly welcomed by President Donald Trump.
The 30-year-old rapper, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, hugged his mother in the courtroom after the Stockholm district court’s presiding judge Per Lennerbrant announced he would be released pending the verdict, which will be delivered on August 14.
Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet reported he left for the airport where a private jet was waiting for him.
Mayers has been held in Sweden since July 3 when he was arrested following a brawl in Stockholm on June 30, which saw him and his crew embroiled in a fight with a 19-year-old plaintiff.
He and two others had been held in custody ahead of their trial because the court deemed him a “flight risk”.
His detention has sparked a campaign for his release by his fans and fellow artists, with an online petition called #JusticeForRocky garnering more than 640,000 signatures. Social media campaigns have even urged fans to boycott Swedish brands such as Ikea.
The New York-born rapper thanked his fans in an Instagram post after his release.
“THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART TO ALL OF MY FANS, FRIENDS AND ANYONE ACROSS THE GLOBE WHO SUPPORTED ME DURING THESE LAST FEW WEEKS I CANT BEGIN TO DESCRIBE HOW GRATEFUL I AM FOR ALL OF YOU THIS HAS BEEN A VERY DIFFICULT AND HUMBLING EXPERIENCE I WANT TO THANK THE COURT FOR ALLOWING ME BLADI AND THOTO TO RETURN TO OUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS THANKS AGAIN FOR ALL OF THE LOVE AND SUPPORT”, he wrote.
Trump, who has repeatedly called for the rapper to be freed — drawing complaints of interference from Swedish politicians — also expressed his approval after the announcement.
“It was a Rocky Week, get home ASAP A$AP!,” the president tweeted.
The US Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, Robert C. O’Brien was sent to attend the trial.
“The president felt they shouldn’t have been detained, they were stalked,” O’Brien told reporters.
Fans and reporters lined up outside the entrance to the remand prison, trying to catch a glimpse of the rapper as he left, but were disappointed to learn the artist had been snuck out a side entrance.
Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet reported he left for the airport where a private jet was waiting for him.
Mayers pleaded not guilty due to self-defence and gave his own account of the brawl in court on Thursday, stressing that he felt “scared” and that he and his entourage had repeatedly told the plaintiff to leave them alone.
Mayers conceded he threw the plaintiff to the ground and “kicked his arm”, but denied the prosecution’s claim that a bottle was used and insisted he only acted after the accuser and his friend began attacking his bodyguard.
The plaintiff alleged that he was attacked by Mayers and his entourage when he followed them to ask about a pair of headphones broken in an earlier scuffle with the rapper’s bodyguard.
Parts of the brawl were captured on video, and in one published by US celebrity news outlet TMZ, the rapper can be seen throwing a young man to the ground and aiming several punches at him while he is down.
The court has also been shown videos posted on the artist’s Instagram account, purporting to show the lead-up to the brawl.
(PM News)
