President Trump‘s attempts to have A$AP Rocky freed from a Swedish jail might result in even more jail time for the rapper.
Rocky, whose given name is Rakim Mayers, has been imprisoned in Stockholm for three weeks after his alleged involvement in a street brawl. Social media posts from his associates have described horrific conditions at the jail.
At the behest of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, Trump reportedly telephoned the Swedish government over the weekend in an attempt to secure the rapper’s release and has said that he and Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven will talk again this week.
But Sweden, apparently, is not being as agreeable as suggested by the president. A spokesperson for Lofven told TMZ after Saturday’s call between the two leaders that no one is permitted to influence criminal justice affairs in their country.
Rocky was jailed after a June 30th dust up that was caught on video. Stockholm District Court approved a request by the prosecutor to keep the rapper behind bars until at least July 25th, while an investigation takes place, the Daily Mail reports. He reportedly believes race isn’t a factor in his arrest.
Trump said last week that he stepped in after multiple people reached out to him to help in the international situation.
“Many, many members of the African-American community have called me, friends of mine, and said, ‘Can you help?’ ” according to the president. “So, I personally don’t know A$AP Rocky, but I can tell you that he has tremendous support from the African-American community in this country — and when I say African-American, I think I can really say from everybody in the country because we’re all one.”
And according to TMZ, the man who attacked A$AP Rocky‘s crew won’t be prosecuted for any crime, despite the fact that he incited the violence and harassed the rapper.
If convicted of aggravated assault the rapper could reportedly face six years in Swedish prison.