A former friend of A$AP Rocky is set to testify Wednesday about the moment the hip-hop star allegedly fired a gun at him on a Hollywood street in 2021.
The trial’s key witness, known by the name A$AP Relli, will provide what’s likely to be the trial’s most important piece of testimony when he gets back on the stand.
Rocky, whose legal name is Rakim Mayers, has pleaded not guilty two felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm. His lawyer says the shots he fired were blanks from a starter pistol that he carried as a prop.
On Tuesday, Relli, born Terell Ephron, described the first part of the confrontation, and was on the verge of describing the alleged shooting itself when court ended for the day.
He said he and Rocky, members of A$AP, a crew of creators at a New York high school, had been close but their relationship eroded after fame came for Rocky.
He said their relationship had been strained for years and getting worse in the previous days, but he was still “furious” when Rocky pulled a gun on him after a scuffle that began the moment the two met up near the W Hotel.
“I told him to use it. Because mentally I couldn’t believe it,” Relli testified, with his old friend staring at him intently from the defense table. “I physically could not believe there was a gun in my face. That was the breaking point for me.”
He said he had expected to argue but reconcile with his old friend, and the last thing he wanted to do was get into a fight that could ruin the modest music management business he had built.
“He’s famous,” Relli said. “I’m nobody.”
The testimony will come on an abbreviated court day. The trial will only be in session for two hours in the morning because of a prosecutor’s previous commitment. Relli can expect to face fierce cross-examination from the defense that could begin Wednesday.
Raised in Harlem, Rocky’s rap songs became a phenomenon on the streets of New York in 2011. He had his mainstream breakthrough when his first studio album went to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in 2013. The second one, in 2015, did the same.
He’s set to have his biggest career year as a multi-media star. This Sunday, he’s nominated for a Grammy Award for best music video for his song “Tailor Swif,” at the ceremony at Crypto.com Arena just two miles from the Los Angeles courthouse where his trial’s being held.
He’s also set to headline the Rolling Loud Music Festival, to star opposite Denzel Washington in a film directed by Spike Lee, and to co-chair the Met Gala in May.
But the prospect of a conviction and the possibility of a maximum of 24 years in prison casts a shadow over all of it.
Rocky is the longtime partner of Rihanna, with whom he has two toddler sons. She has yet to appear at his trial.
A$AP Rocky’s accuser set to testify about alleged shooting in the biggest moment at rapper’s trial
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A$AP Rocky’s accuser set to testify about alleged shooting in the biggest moment at rapper’s trial
- A former friend of A$AP Rocky is set to testify about the moment the hip-hop star allegedly fired a gun at him on a Hollywood street in 2021
- The trial’s key witness, known by the name A$AP Relli, will provide what’s likely to be the trial’s most important piece of testimony when he gets back on the stand Wednesday
Japan’s beloved last pandas leave for China as ties fray
TOKYO: Two popular pandas are set to leave Tokyo for China Tuesday, leaving Japan without any of the beloved bears for the first time in 50 years as ties between the Asian neighbors fray.
Panda twins Lei Lei and Xiao Xiao are due to be transported by truck out of Ueno Zoological Gardens, their birthplace, disappointing many Japanese fans who have grown attached to the furry four-year-olds.
“Although I can’t see them, I came to share the same air with them and to say, ‘Hope you’ll be OK,’” one woman visiting the zoo told public broadcaster NHK.
The pandas’ abrupt return was announced last month during a diplomatic spat that began when Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi hinted that Tokyo could intervene militarily in the event of an attack on Taiwan.
Her comment provoked the ire of Beijing, which regards the island as its own territory.
The distinctive black-and-white animals, loaned out as part of China’s “panda diplomacy,” have symbolized friendship between Beijing and Tokyo since they normalized diplomatic ties in 1972.
Their repatriation comes a month before their loan period expires in February, according to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, which operates Ueno Zoo.
Japan has reportedly been seeking the loan of a new pair of pandas.
However, a weekend poll by the liberal Asahi Shimbun newspaper showed that 70 percent of those surveyed do not think the government should negotiate with China on the lease of new pandas, while 26 percent would like them to.
On Sunday, Ueno Zoo invited some 4,400 lucky winners of an online lottery to see the pandas for the last time.
Passionate fans without tickets still turned out at the park, sporting panda-themed shirts, bags and dolls to demonstrate their love of the animals.
China has discouraged its nationals from traveling to Japan, citing deteriorating public security and criminal acts against Chinese nationals in the country.
Beijing is reportedly also choking off exports to Japan of rare-earth products crucial for making everything from electric cars to missiles.
However, China routinely removes pandas from foreign countries and the latest move may not be politically motivated, said Masaki Ienaga, a professor at Tokyo Woman’s Christian University and an expert in East Asian international relations.
“If you talk about (Chinese) politics, the timing of sending pandas is what counts,” and pandas could return to Japan if bilateral ties warm, he said.
Other countries use animals as tools of diplomacy, including Thailand with its elephants and Australia with its koalas, he added.
“But pandas are special,” he said. “They have strong customer-drawing power, and... they can earn money.”
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