The U.S. Department of State is “actively monitoring” A$AP Rocky‘s assault case in Sweden, a department spokesperson said in a statement to SPIN. The star rapper is currently being held in pre-detention at a Swedish jail after being arrested last week on suspicion of assault for his alleged role in an altercation while on tour in Stockholm on June 30.
“We are aware of the arrest of a U.S. citizen in Stockholm,” the spokesperson said in response to SPIN’s request for comment on Rocky’s case. “We take seriously our responsibility to assist U.S. citizens abroad and are actively monitoring the situation.” The spokesperson did not mention the artist born Rakim Mayers by name.
Multiple celebrity news publications have reported that the conditions of the facility where Rocky is detained are “inhumane.” The rapper was also barred from communicating with a U.S Embassy official for two days, in possible violation of an international treaty, a source told TMZ. A prison official denied descriptions of the facility in a statement to People.
Video of the incident published by TMZ shows Rocky and three associates throwing, punching, and kicking two younger men in the street. Additional videos filmed before the altercation show Rocky’s group repeatedly asking the alleged victims to stop following them, and one of the men smashing headphones on the head of one of Rocky’s associates. “They were attacked and he made use of self-defense,” Rocky’s attorney told the Associated Press.
Read a full timeline of the case here.
