Source: Steven Ferdman / Getty
Imagine being falsely arrested and detained for weeks in a foreign country in an international scandal that involved the top levels of the American government and major civil rights figures demanding your release.
Now, imagine living through that and willingly returning to the scene of the crime.
READ MORE: After Sweden, Black Twitter Wonders If A$AP Rocky Can ‘Relate’ To Social Justice Now
Imagine no longer, since that’s precisely what rapper A$AP Rocky is intending to do, according to the Local, which covers news in Sweden and attributed the following statement to concert-promoting company Live Nation:
“After tremendous support from the Swedish fans, he returns to Stockholm for a long-awaited gig for all his supporters.”
As of Friday morning, Live Nation’s Twitter timeline did not have a tweet announcing the show.
There was also no apparent confirmation from Rocky about the reported show. The rapper on Thursday posted an Instagram photo of himself holding what appeared to be a lit joint. The only text on the post that had nearly 1 million likes was a broken heart emoji.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4k9Ldtn3qQ/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Rocky was detained in a Swedish prison in July following an altercation he had with two Swedish men. The 31-year-old has maintained that he was acting in self-defense during the June 30 altercation. Rocky was on a European tour when the fight broke out with local media blaming the rapper. The very next day TMZ published the video of the fight, which purportedly showed Rocky and his entourage fighting against one other person. It also showed several men accused Rocky and his crew of breaking a pair of headphones. The men followed them after making the accusation and a brawl ensued.
He was tried in a Swedish court and ultimately allowed to return to the U.S. following a guilty verdict in August.
President Donald Trump demanded that Rocky publicly thank him for supposedly negotiating the rapper’s release. The rapper kindly declined.
The U.S. had threatened Sweden with “negative consequences” if the rapper wasn’t released from jail, NBC News reported at the time. “The government of the United States of America wants to resolve this case as soon as possible to avoid potentially negative consequences to the U.S.-Swedish bilateral relationship,” the U.S. special presidential envoy for hostage affairs wrote to Swedish prosecutors.
The Rev. Al Sharpton and his National Action Network also got involved to work toward the rapper’s release from jail in a facility that reportedly had “inhumane” conditions. Critics watching the situation unfold on social media found irony in the prospects of a rapper who once said he couldn’t “relate” to social justice issues possibly benefiting from the help of a civil rights organization.
At the time Rocky’s guilty verdict was finally read aloud in court, the rapper was already safely back in the U.S. At the time, TMZ wrote that “Rocky will never go back to the home of IKEA.”
What a difference just a few months makes.
SEE ALSO:
A$AP Rocky Reportedly Ignoring Trump’s Demand For A Public Thank You, And We Are Here For It
