All the White House wanted was their flowers. Apparently, A$AP Rocky doesn’t think that’s his fucking problem.
A new report from Yahoo News citing two Trump clowns allies, Darrell Scott and Kareem Lanier, spills the tea about what happened behind the scenes of Donald Trump’s efforts to free Rocky (born name: Rakim Mayers) from his stint in a Swedish jail last month.
Scott, an Ohio pastor, and Lanier, co-chair of the Urban Revitalization Coalition—a nonprofit that “[promotes] elements of the Trump agenda to the black community,” according to Yahoo—were responsible for bringing Rocky’s case to Trump’s attention after a mysterious Hollywood “fixer” reached out to them for assistance.
Scott and Lanier both felt that Rocky had been wronged by the Swedish judicial process—that the man he was accused of assaulting had provoked the attack by harassing Rocky and his entourage, and that he was being “railroaded” by the system. They felt Trump, who had signed a criminal justice reform bill in the past year, would be amenable to taking on Rocky’s case. But they wanted just one thing from Rocky, should the White House get involved.
A “thank you.”
From Yahoo:
“The White House didn’t ask for anything. There were no conditions attached, but my condition and Kareem’s condition was that all I’m asking for you guys to do is say thank you,” Scott recalled telling Rocky’s manager.
According to Scott, [Rocky’s manager John] Ehmann responded, “If a serial killer gets Rocky out of jail, I would have no problem saying thank you to the serial killer.”
I mean, having your man compared to a serial killer should have been the first sign Rocky himself might not be enthused about—or follow through—with this arrangement, but whatever. For some reason, this dynamic duo thought that Trump’s public advocacy for A$AP would score the White House points with the black community.
So Jared Kushner got involved, as did Kim Kardashian West (at the behest of husband, Kanye West), and so, eventually, did Trump.
Scott also said he and Trump talked about the situation in a subsequent phone conversation in which the president asked, “What do you think about this Rocky guy?”
“He’s a good guy. It’s a good move,” Scott responded.
Seven days after the Cleveland trip, Trump weighed in from the Oval Office as he fielded questions from reporters.
“Many, many members of the African-American community have called me, friends of mine, and said, ‘Could you help?’” Trump said. “So I personally don’t know A$AP Rocky, but I can tell you he has a lot of support from the African-American community in this country.”
Rocky, of course, ended up being freed from jail shortly before his verdict came down (guilty, but no jail time). And the elated rapper did take to Instagram to give thanks...to his friends, fans, and “anyone across the globe who supported me.”
But he didn’t specifically thank Trump publicly, nor privately.
Lanier felt a way about that.
“I was like, man, you ungrateful motherf***ers, you. I can’t believe you. ... We didn’t ask you guys for nothing other than for you guys to be grateful,” Lanier said he told him. “We just want you guys to be appreciative and say thank you.”
In fact, Pretty Flacko just kind of ghosted on Trump’s little goats, with his manager fending off Lanier and Scott by telling them Rocky needed some personal time. You know, the old “Sorry, I just been so busy. Life is crazy rn lol.”
I mean, I and anyone else could have told you, just by listening to two and a half A$AP Rocky songs, that this motherfucker has no problem leaving you on read, and gives far less fucks about leaving Trump’s little team on read at that.
Well, Trump’s people are still salty as my mother’s adobo about the whole thing and blame Rocky’s alleged backing out of their deal on a “herd mentality” in the black community.
“One of the problems that we have as a culture—and I’m talking about black Americans—is herd mentality,” Lanier told Yahoo. “Right now it’s popular for those guys to bash President Trump.”