PUNK MOVE? Reports Say Rapper A$AP Rocky Completely “Ungrateful” To President Trump

Ken LaCorte over at LaCorte News published a terrific short summary of the issue and its histroy:

President Trump made immense efforts to keep rapper A$AP Rocky out of a Swedish jail, or at the very least, return him to the US. But, Rocky, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, still hasn't officially thanked the White House, say the president's associates.

How the White House got involved: Hassan Muhammad, who described himself as an entertainment industry “fixer,” reached out to Darrell Scott, an Ohio pastor and a member of President Donald Trump's executive transition team, and Kareem Lanier, the co-chairman of the Urban Revitalization Coalition, about Rocky's case on July 10.

Five days before the call, the Swedish court ruled that the rapper cannot leave the country and needs to be detained.

Muhammad, who heard about the case from an associate of Rocky,  believed that Rocky's options are thin and that they would have to get the White House of the State Department involved if they want to help the rapper.

After seeing a couple of videos of the incident online, Scott and Lanuer agreed to help. They believed that the rapper is innocent and that President Trump, who supports bipartisan criminal justice reform, will see things the same way.

“The president is so pro-criminal justice reform, sentencing reform ... we knew this would be something that would be right up his wheelhouse,” Lanier said.

Lanier and Scott then talked to Rocky's manager, John Ehmann. “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,” explained Scott.

“If a serial killer gets Rocky out of jail, I would have no problem saying thank you to the serial killer," responded Ehmann, according to Scott. The two contacted the president’s adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner, who then talked to the president. President Trump tasked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo with Rocky's case, but he still remained close to the case. He tweeted about his support of the rapper and even said that he would personally vouch for his bail or an alternative." According to Lanier, Kushner said that the president suggested to fly Rocky back to the US and place him in the U.S. Embassy or a hotel until trial.

Tensions: At one point, Scott and Lanier took issue with one of Rocky's lawyers, Damien Granderson, because he was too “nonchalant” regarding President Trump's involvement.

“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," Lanier told Granderson.

Rocky’s Swedish lawyer, Slobodan Jovicic, acknowledged the impact President Trump has on the case. "No American president has made this kind of a guarantee before. As I see it, this is new evidence and they can never use this move against us i.e. it can’t be wrong to think that a guarantee from America’s president can make a difference," he wrote in an email to Ehman, who passed the message to Scott and Lanier.

An attempt to draw support from the black community: Critics accused President Trump that he is trying to help the rapper to appeal to black voters, but Lanier rejected these claims.

“He won the election with 8 percent of the black vote. He doesn’t need black voters or need A$AP Rocky to get black voters. ... He did this because it was the right thing to do.”

No gratitude: When Rocky was released, Scott and Lanier tried but couldn't reach Rocky's team. Ehmann eventually picked up the phone, telling the two that the rapper needs a "rest."

“I hope you guys aren’t going back on what you said you were going to do," Scott told Ehmann, referring to their request for a public acknowledged of the White House's efforts from the rapper. But, Rocky only thanked fans and his supporters in an Instagram statement. Scott and Lanier continued to call Rocky's team, asking them to fulfill their promise, but they didn't, even when the rapper was told that he wouldn't serve time in prison, despite being found guilty.

Reasons: According to Scott and Lanier, A$AP Rocky is refraining from thanking the president publicly because it is believed that as a black person, he isn't supposed to support him. “One of the problems that we have as a culture — and I’m talking about black Americans — is herd mentality. Right now it’s popular for those guys to bash President Trump," said Lanier.

“All he had to do was do a two-minute call to say thank you. Rocky hasn’t even called us and said, ‘Hey, man, thank you guys. I appreciate it,’ in private. Just in private.”

Newsmax had more:

President Donald Trump helped return rapper A$AP Rocky to the United States from Sweden, but the associates who helped get the president involved are upset the rapper did not acknowledge the work on behalf of the White House, according to Yahoo! News.

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"All he had to do was do a two-minute call to say, 'thank you,'" Pastor Darrell Scott, who served on the president's transition team and assists on African American issues, told Yahoo! "Rocky hasn't even called us and said, 'Hey, man, thank you guys. I appreciate it,' in private. Just in private."

Scott and Kareem Lanier, a co-chairman of the Urban Revitalization Coalition, made only one request to A$AP Rocky's manager John Ehmann in exchange to escalate the rapper's legal troubles up to the president, per the report: They wanted acknowledgment from the rapper.

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"I was like, man, 'you ungrateful motherf–ers, you,'" Lanier told Yahoo! of a conversation with a lawyer for A$AP Rocky after his release. "'I can't believe you. . . . We didn't ask you guys for nothing other than for you guys to be grateful. We just want you guys to be appreciative and say, thank you.'"

Scott added to Yahoo! that Ehmann "started making all these excuses" for the rapper, saying he was busy, was traveling, or needed rest.

"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."