Photo Credit: A$AP Rocky/Instagram
President Trump has now intervened in the case of rapper A$AP Rocky who has been detained in Sweden following an incident of him defending himself against a stalker 3 weeks ago. It’s been reported that he was originally in a cell with a strong stench before being moved elsewhere and he’s also facing 6 years if convicted. Beyond that, American authorities were not originally made aware of his arrest within the stated time they were supposed to in the beginning. But all of that may soon be history as President Trump spoke to Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven personally vouching for him, advocating for him to be eligible for bail to get out of their prison system.
“Just had a very good call with @SwedishPM Stefan Löfven who assured me that American citizen A$AP Rocky will be treated fairly. Likewise, I assured him that A$AP was not a flight risk and offered to personally vouch for his bail, or an alternative,” the President tweeted. “Our teams will be talking further, and we agreed to speak again in the next 48 hours!” he continued. A State Department spokesperson has said they “hope to see ASAP Rocky and his colleagues back on tour and reunited with friends and family soon.”
The President’s involvement dates back to his wife Melania bringing it to his attention. Kim Kardashian lobbying him for assistance as she has been having luck with getting assistance in criminal justice reform as well as commuting the sentences of others. Her work lead to President Trump negotiating for his release Friday after Swedish officials said they were keeping him another week as they deemed him a flight risk. “[Sweden is] a great country. They’re friends of mine,” Trump said. “We’re going to be calling them. We’ll talk to them. We already started.”
“Just spoke to @KanyeWest about his friend A$AP Rocky’s incarceration,” Trump tweeted Friday. “I will be calling the very talented Prime Minister of Sweden to see what we can do about helping A$AP Rocky. So many people would like to see this quickly resolved!”
Now there is some irony in his case because there has been a significant amount of activist outrage about him being arrested. Wendy Williams called on Kris Jenner and Kanye to help with his arrest, Al Sharpton was called on, the Congressional Black Caucus has weighed in as well as a number of Congressmen. Now color me skeptical but I’m sure all of this is happening because it’s election season, but I digress. But the true irony is Rocky citing Sharpton in an interview years ago when asked about what was happening in Ferguson and said he couldn’t relate, that he was in the studio, in Beverly Hills or wherever he mentioned and that he wasn’t Al Sharpton so what did people want him to do. Wendy Williams said he was too old to be thinking like that but we feel differently.
You shouldn’t force anyone to make a statement on something they don’t want to or to identify with a cause just because. He would have been better off saying it wasn’t something he kept up with. After all, artists are entertainers and in recent years we’ve been trying to force and literally bully them into political positions which isn’t right. There can be so much bluster around some of these stories that some people do in fact retreat and want nothing to do with it. It’s good that people wanted to help him, but don’t make him get involved in something that isn’t him. We have to remember that everyone isn’t meant to be an activist.
