When A$AP Rocky failed to thank President Donald Trump for reportedly freeing the rapper from his stint in Swedish jail last month, it apparently didn’t go over so well with the White House.
Yahoo News learned from Darrell Scott and Kareem Lanier, two Black conservatives with connections to the White House, that White House staffers were expecting an apology.
Instead, Rocky has only given general shows of appreciation that failed to mention the White House, Lanier told Yahoo.
Rocky was arrested in July for allegedly having a fight with two men in Sweden. As a result, he was held in a Swedish prison as his case worked its way through the courts in the Scandinavian nation.
Prosecutors suggested he stay there six months if he was found guilty due to being a flight risk, but Trump successfully advocated for Rocky’s release behind the scenes, according to the Yahoo News report.
When his trial concluded August 2, Rocky was released and allowed to return to the United States even though a verdict had not been reached in the case.
“A$AP Rocky released from prison and on his way home to the United States from Sweden,” Trump tweeted. “It was a Rocky Week, get home ASAP A$AP.”
Scott and Lanier said when Rocky didn’t mention the White House, it seemed unappreciative.
“All he had to do was do a two-minute call to say thank you,” Scott told Yahoo. “Rocky hasn’t even called us and said, ‘Hey, man, thank you guys. I appreciate it,’ in private. Just in private.”
Lanier said it’s not uncommon for people in the Black community to distance themselves from Trump.
“One of the problems that we have as a culture — and I’m talking about black Americans — is herd mentality,” he told Yahoo. “Right now it’s popular for those guys to bash President Trump.”
Scott is an Ohio pastor, and Lanier is co-chairman of the Urban Revitalization Council, a nonprofit that works with the White House.
Both have been credited for bringing Rocky’s case to Trump’s attention following a plea from Hassan Muhammad, who described himself as a Hollywood “fixer,” Yahoo reported.
