It sounds counterintuitive, but A$AP Rocky being found guilty of assault on Wednesday by judges in a Stockholm courtroom was actually a victory for the rapper.
Though Rocky was found guilty, he will not serve any more jail time after already spending more than a month in a Swedish detention center.
Rocky was standing trial for punching and kicking a man, Mustafa Jafari, during a street brawl in Stockholm.
According to Rocky, he was acting in self-defense after the 19-year-old repeatedly harassed the rapper’s entourage and threw a punch at his bodyguard.
Though judges found Rocky’s defense flimsy, they ruled he had already served enough time behind bars and gave him a conditional sentence.
While Rocky was jailed, Kanye West and Kim Kardashian lobbied the Trump administration to help free the rapper and the president even tweeted about the matter.
Trump also sent a special envoy for hostage affairs, Robert O’Brien, to watch over the trial in Sweden.
When Rocky was released before a ruling was issued in the case, Trump welcomed him back to the U.S. on Twitter.
A$AP Rocky released from prison and on his way home to the United States from Sweden. It was a Rocky Week, get home ASAP A$AP!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 2, 2019
Once freed, Rocky played a show in California and addressed the crowd during the show. “It was a scary, humbling experience but I’m here right now,” he said. “God is good. People who ain’t even f*ck with me felt sympathy. People was praying for me. That uplifted me when my spirits was low. I can’t thank y’all enough, man, that was crazy. Hip-hop never looked so strong together.”
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