Rapper A$AP Rocky was charged with assault Thursday over a fight before a music festival in Stockholm last month, a State Department spokesperson told BuzzFeed News.
He could face up to two years in jail in Sweden, according to the Associated Press.
The June 30 fight allegedly broke out after two men began following the “F**kin’ Problems” rapper after he broke a pair of their headphones, according to footage first obtained by TMZ. A woman who was with Rocky then accused one of the two men of groping her earlier. The rapper and his crew can then be seen pummeling a man, throwing him across the ground.
Two other individuals, who have not been named, face the same charges. All three have been held in jail since July 3.
In a statement about the charges, prosecutor Daniel Suneson said Rocky and the two others were “suspected of assault causing actual bodily harm, having come to the conclusion that the events in question constitute a crime and despite claims of self-defense and provocation.”
Many celebrities have gotten involved in the case, with Justin Bieber, Nicki Minaj, and Post Malone being just a few who have posted in support of the rapper.
President Trump has also stepped in, tweeting last week that he spoke to Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven and offered to pay his bail.
Trump said Löfven assured him that “American citizen A$AP Rocky will be treated fairly.”
Kim Kardashian thanked Trump after he tweeted days earlier that he’d try to help Rocky.
Rocky’s attorney and manager previously said that the artist acted in self-defense after “a group of men” continued to follow, harass, and then physically assault them.
“Video footage shows the assailants following Rocky, while he pleads to them that he does not want any issues. Rocky volunteered to go to police for questioning,” John Ehmann, the rapper’s manager, said in an Instagram post. “On the day of his arrest, I spoke with the U.S. Embassy Consult who informed me that his request to visit Rocky was rejected by police, which violates article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, to which Sweden is a signatory.”
Ehmann added that Rocky is being held in “horrific” conditions, including “24/7 solitary confinement, restriction of amenities for the most basic of human functions, lack of access to life sustaining food as well as unsanitary conditions.”
Prior to Thursday’s charges, the rapper’s team had tried to get him released from jail. But siding with the prosecutors, a Swedish judge ruled last week that he would remain incarcerated due to being a “flight risk,” according to the Associated Press.
- Trump Is Now Going To Try To Get Rapper A$AP Rocky Out Of Swedish PrisonBrianna Sacks · July 19, 2019
- Kim Kardashian West Has Helped Release 17 People From Prison In The Last Three MonthsMichael Blackmon · May 7, 2019
Julia Reinstein is a reporter for BuzzFeed News and is based in New York.
Contact Julia Reinstein at [email protected].
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