The rollercoaster of 21 Savage’s last two weeks is not over yet. Three days after he was released from Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention on bond and his past drug charges were dropped as grounds for deportation, the rapper born She’yaa Bin Abraham-Joseph now reportedly has a felony warrant out for his arrest on unrelated charges.
According to TMZ, the warrant stems from a show that 21 Savage was booked to play in southern Georgia in 2016. According to the promoter, the rapper was paid a $9,500 advance before the show, and collected a remaining balance of $7,500 upon arriving at the venue. He allegedly failed to perform a set, but left with all the money anyway.
The promoter went to the local sheriff’s office in October of that year and filed a police report, and a warrant was issued for felony theft by deception, but officials never acted on it. (For some reason, TMZ’s report declines to name the specific locality of the sheriff’s office.) TMZ’s sources say the promoter contacted the sheriff’s office and asked them to make an arrest after news broke of 21 Savage’s detainment by ICE.
21 Savage’s attorney denied that he committed a crime. “Mr. Joseph has committed no criminal offense,” the lawyer, Abby Taylor, told TMZ. “We look forward to an amicable resolution between the parties in the near future with no criminal implications whatsoever.”
ICE detained 21 Savage on Super Bowl Sunday on the grounds that he had overstayed his visa, which was reportedly issued when he moved from the U.K. to the U.S. in 2005 and expired a year later. ICE also claimed at the time that a 2014 drug conviction was grounds for the rapper’s deportation. (The news that he was born and partially raised in the U.K. in the first place came as a surprise to fans, having never been mentioned in press coverage or biographical materials.)
The rapper was released on bond on Tuesday (February 12), and gave his first post-detention interview to Good Morning America on Friday (February 15). “I wasn’t hiding it, but I didn’t want to get deported,” he said of his immigration status in the interview. “So I’m not finna be like, ‘Hey I wasn’t born here,’ to the world.”
