Trump allies who helped free A$AP Rocky from Swedish prison are furious with the rapper and his team for not thanking the president.
“I was like, man, you ungrateful motherf–kers, you. I can’t believe you. We didn’t ask you guys for nothing other than for you guys to be grateful,” Kareem Lanier, who co-chairs the Urban Revitalization Coalition and advises President Trump with African-American issues, told Yahoo News Thursday. “We just want you guys to be appreciative and say thank you.”
Lanier and Darrell Scott, an Ohio pastor and Trump surrogate, helped encourage the Trump administration to release the embattled rapper, who had been arrested in early July for his involvement in a street fight.
“The president is so pro-criminal justice reform, sentencing reform … we knew this would be something that would be right up his wheelhouse,” Lanier said about the idea to secure the release of the 30-year-old rapper, whose real name is Rakim Mayers.
Lanier was connected to the case by music-industry “fixer” Hassan Muhammad, who connected him to Rocky’s manager John Ehmann. Ehmann told Lanier that if the rapper did not get help from Trump, then “Rocky is screwed.” Lanier and Scott said they gave Ehmann a single request in exchange for their help in getting Trump’s support to free the rapper.
“The White House didn’t ask for anything. There were no conditions attached, but my condition and Kareem’s condition was that all I’m asking for you guys to do is say thank you,” Scott told Rocky’s manager, claiming he agreed to the condition.
Scott and Lanier then reached out to Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner as their White House contact. In addition, the two said they later talked to the president and personally encouraged him to release Rocky. Days later, Trump told reporters that “many members of the African-American community” had asked him to release the rapper. The White House was also in dialogue with reality star Kim Kardashian West about securing Rocky’s release.
When news broke in early August that Rocky had been released, Trump took to Twitter to celebrate the news.
“A$AP Rocky released from prison and on his way home to the United States from Sweden,” Trump said. “It was a Rocky Week, get home ASAP A$AP!”
A$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
Despite the release, Scott and Lanier remain upset that Rocky never thanked the president either publicly or privately as his team had promised to do.
“All he had to do was do a two-minute call to say thank you,” Scott said. “Rocky hasn’t even called us and said, ‘Hey, man, thank you guys. I appreciate it,’ in private. Just in private.”
Last week, a panel of four judges found the rapper guilty of assault.
“Based on two witness statements, the court finds the defendants were not subject to imminent attack,” the court’s judgment found. “Therefore, the defendants were not entitled to use violence in self-defense.”
Rocky said he was “disappointed” by the court’s verdict.
