A$AP Rocky cancels tour; his Swedish lawyer refutes "inhumane conditions" claim
Earlier this month, it was reported that A$AP Rocky was arrested in Sweden for suspected assault after he and his crew appeared to get into a brawl on the street in Stockholm, and it has since been reported that he’s being held in inhuman conditions. Via TMZ:
A$AP Rocky is being held in a Swedish jail with shockingly inhumane conditions — feces hurled about and not cleaned up, wretched food and facilities that are not fit for human beings … this according to sources with direct knowledge of Rocky’s situation.
Our sources tell TMZ … the rapper is sleeping on a yoga mat with no blankets. There is a prisoner in the next cell with severe mental issues who slams his head against the concrete wall and hurls feces every which way … feces that are not cleaned up.
The water, we’re told, is not clean and the food is not edible … for the first 5 days A$AP Rocky ate an apple a day, and that’s it.
We’re told the facility is filthy and “disease ridden.”
The later updated to say, “Our sources say an official from the U.S. Embassy in Sweden told A$AP Rocky’s team that the person from the U.S. Consulate who visited Rocky in the jail reported back, ‘Walking into that place was like walking into a toilet.'” Rocky’s manager John Ehmann also launched a Change.org petition demanding that Rocky be released, and it reads, “Some of the inhumane conditions Rocky and his colleagues are facing at the Stockholm Detention Center include 24/7 solitary confinement, restriction of amenities for the most basic of human functions, access to palatable and life sustaining food as well as unsanitary conditions.” (Fredrik Wallin, the governor of the Swedish prison, defended the facility to Page Six, saying it was “recently renovated,” clean, and offering three meals a day. He also would not confirm whether Rocky was in their custody.)
Several musicians, celebrities, and companies have passed the Change.org petition around on social media, including Nicki Minaj, Post Malone, Justin Bieber, Kris Jenner, Cara Delevigne, Tyler the Creator, 2 Chainz, G-Eazy, Schoolboy Q, Kid Cudi, Miguel, TIDAL, RCA Records, Guess Jeans, and more.
As revealed in a statement from his management that the Sonar Festival posted, Rocky has also had to cancel his entire European tour. “A$AP Rocky is being detained in a Swedish jail for an unknown period of time for acting in self-defense during an altercation that took place. Due to this unfortunate situation he is forced to cancel his European festival and tour dates in July,” the statement reads. Sonar mention that they are looking for a replacement. Rocky was also supposed to play Germany, Belgium, Italy, Spain, and more.
Stay tuned for any further updates on this story.
UPDATE: The FADER now points to an article on Swedish website SVT Nyheter where Rocky’s Swedish lawyer Henrik Olsson Lilja refutes the claim that he is being held in “inhumane conditions.” It reads (translated by Google):
“He has never talked to TMZ or any third party regarding the circumstances when he was arrested, ie when he was in the prison. He was then treated and treated properly. However, he has experienced the conditions in the arrest as very simple and has experienced that it smells urine in the cell in the arrest. However, not in detention. The conditions in the arrest cell can in that respect be criticized. ”
[…]
“He has lacked appetite at the beginning when he was arrested but tries to eat to the best of his ability. He was to receive a visit from American staff at an early stage when he was arrested, but understood that staff from the embassy were not allowed to enter. At a later date, some day later, however, he has been visited. If this is a violation of the Vienna Convention, he cannot judge. He does not know any other information in the TMZ article.”
