ASAP Rocky left Donald Trump on read

ASAP Rocky
Emmi Korhonen/Shutterstock
Culture

More details have emerged surrounding the release of A$AP Rocky from Swedish custody earlier this month. The rapper, who was arrested in July after a street fight in Stockholm was captured on video, spent nearly a month in jail, spawning countless online campaigns and, eventually, the involvement of President Donald Trump.

According to a report from Yahoo News, The Trump camp saw an opportunity to bolster their image in the African American community by advocating for A$AP's release. Two Trump associates, Darrell Scott and Kareem Lanier, as well as a celebrity "fixer" named Hassan Muhammad, were the key players in the White House's maneuvering.

Rocky's team reportedly reached out to Muhammad, who told them, “If you are in a situation like this, then there's only one or two places you call, the White House or the State Department,” before going on to say that he "know[s] somebody at the White House.”

Muhammad then approached Scott and Lanier, who served as surrogates on Trump's 2016 campaign and handled much of then-candidate Trump's outreach to the black community, about the case. Afterwards they spoke with Rocky's manager John Ehmann who, according to Lanier, said "if the White House does not get involved, Rocky is screwed.”

This being Donald Trump, the pair informed Ehmann that there would be one requirement.

“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 recounted to Yahoo News.

According to Scott, Ehmann had this to say back: “If a serial killer gets Rocky out of jail, I would have no problem saying thank you to the serial killer.”

Trump would go on to hold a summit with Kanye West about Rocky's situation, and eventually, the rapper would be released, avoiding additional jail time. Once he was released, however, the report says, his team started evading the White House's request for a thank you. Apparently Rocky’s team stopped responding to the Trump team's text messages.

“All he had to do was do a two-minute call to say thank you,” said Scott. “Rocky hasn’t even called us and said, ‘Hey, man, thank you guys. I appreciate it,’ in private. Just in private.”

Hopefully Rocky doesn't have read receipts. That would just be cruel.