Posted on January 20, 2021

Lil Wayne, Kodak Black Among Pop Culture Figures Granted Clemency on Trump’s Final Day in Office

Sonia Rao, Washington Post, January 20, 2021

Rappers Lil Wayne and Kodak Black were among those offered clemency by President Trump on his final day in office, the White House announced early Wednesday. Others pardoned in the entertainment sphere were Roc Nation chief executive Desiree Perez and Death Row Records co-founder Michael “Harry-O” Harris.

Lil Wayne, 38, hadn’t yet been sentenced after pleading guilty in December to carrying a loaded firearm while traveling on a private jet. The rapper, whose real name is Dwayne Michael Carter Jr., was prohibited from owning guns because of a past felony conviction and faced up to 10 years in prison. {snip}

Administration officials previously told The Washington Post Trump was considering Carter for a pardon. The rapper had expressed his support for Trump just days before the November election, sparking controversy when he tweeted, “Just had a great meeting with @realdonaldtrump,” along with a photo of the two men. {snip}

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Kodak Black, sentenced in November 2019 to nearly four years in prison, also received a pardon on Wednesday. The rapper, who changed his legal name from Dieuson Octave to Bill Kapri, had pleaded guilty to weapons charges stemming from his arrest at the Rolling Loud Festival in May 2019. {snip}

Other charges against Kapri, 23, have involved kidnapping, drug possession and sexual assault, with some still pending. In April 2019, the Associated Press reported that he had been charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct for allegedly assaulting a high school student after a 2016 concert in Florence, S.C., and that he faced a maximum sentence of 30 years.

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Perez, CEO of Jay-Z’s Roc Nation, was granted a full pardon. She was once “involved in a conspiracy to distribute narcotics,” the White House stated, but has since “taken full accountability for her actions and turned her life around.” {snip}

Harris, 59, was granted clemency Tuesday after Snoop Dogg worked with activists to advocate for the record label co-founder, according to the Daily Beast. {snip}

Johnson noted that, despite Snoop Dogg’s criticism of Trump, the rapper is “appreciative” of what Trump has done “in terms of getting folks released from prison.”

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