Nearly seven months following his arrest at LAX Airport in April, rapper A$AP Rocky (b. Rakim Mayers), 34, appeared in court again on Nov. 2, in relation to his ongoing assault case. He has appeared in court numerous times but his girlfriend, Rihanna, 34, has not been in attendance and a source close to the “Umbrella” singer has EXCLUSIVELY told HollywoodLife the reasoning. “Rihanna is not getting too involved in ASAP’s case because he told her that, as much as he loves her, it does not involve her. She has her plate full right now and they are both confident that ASAP will get out of these charges,” they said. “If Rihanna thought that this was a dire situation, she would have gone regardless, but she knows that her going to court with him for this would just add a lot of unnecessary drama.”
It is true that the billionaire and Fenty Beauty founder has a full plate, as she is also due to perform at the Super Bowl Halftime Show come Feb. 2023. A second source close to the star also shared that Rocky is not trying to cause any stress for his girlfriend amid her show preparations. “The feeling among ASAP’s team is that he will be cleared of all wrongdoing, so this isn’t a case where he needs Rihanna to come with him. He’s very protective of Rihanna and doesn’t want to cause her any sort of stress,” the insider revealed.
“If he felt that he needed her there she would be there, but at this point, he isn’t trying to drag her into anything. He’s got no doubts that he’ll be cleared of this on his own merits. The best thing that Rihanna can do is stay with their son and stay stress-free,” the source concluded. Riri and the “Fashion Killa” singer welcomed their first child, a son, on May 13, about one month prior to his April arrest. At the time of the arrest, the Savage X Fenty designer was with her boyfriend, as they returned home to L.A. after a trip to Barbados.
Rocky was arrested for charges regarding an alleged shooting that took place on Nov. 6, 2021. He appeared in court to formally face the criminal charges, and pleaded not guilty, per Entertainment Tonight. Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón and his office officially charged the recording artist with two counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm, along with allegations of personally using a firearm. When he appeared in court on Nov. 2, Rocky agreed to a “new months-long delay” for the case, per Rolling Stone.
On Sept. 16, Rocky’s lawyer, Joe Tacopina, told HL that, “Rocky didn’t commit a crime. It was extortion attempted by a former associate, who threatened to make false criminal accusations if Rocky didn’t pay him, What will become abundantly clear in the upcoming months is that, based on facts and evidence, Rocky will be cleared because is innocent of these charges.” Following Wednesday’s court appearance, his legal team told us that the next date will be in the new year. “Today’s appearance was an uneventful appearance. We received the discovery from the prosecutor which we will begin to review. The next appearance is January 13 at which time we will set the date for the preliminary hearing. I got Rocky’s appearance waived for the January 13th court appearance.”