Why does Donald Trump care about A$AP Rocky?

Beyond Today

BBC

News

4.6 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 31 July 2019

⏱️ 17 minutes

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Summary

US rapper A$AP Rocky went on trial in Sweden this week, accused of assaulting a 19-year-old in Stockholm. Donald Trump has publicly called for his release online, tweeting “Give A$AP Rocky his FREEDOM. We do so much for Sweden but it doesn’t seem to work the other way around. Sweden should focus on its real crime problem! #FreeRocky”. The US president has also spoken to the Swedish prime minister about the case. But why does Donald Trump care about the rapper’s arrest? And how has his intervention gone down in Sweden? We speak to Maddy Savage, who has been covering events in Stockholm for the BBC. We also hear from Congressman Adriano Espaillat, who represents the New York district where A$AP Rocky was born, and from Eugene Scott, a writer on identity issues for the Washington Post. Producers: Duncan Barber and Daniel Kraemer. Mixed by Nicolas Raufast. Editor: Philly Beaumont.

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts.
0:05.6	Hello, I'm Tina Dehealy.
0:07.8	Welcome to Beyond Today from BBC Radio 4,
0:10.7	a space to ask one big question about one big story.
0:15.0	Today, why does Donald Trump care about A-Sap Rocky?
0:27.0	A-Sap Rocky is a situation in Sweden. I have been called by so many people asking me to help Aesap Rocky.
0:40.0	Not something you'd expect Donald Trump to bring up in a press conference about
0:45.4	the anniversary of the Moon landings. But it takes that Rocky clearly has the
0:50.5	US President's attention. The American rapper is currently locked up in a Swedish
0:56.2	jail.
0:57.2	American rap star A-Sap Rocky pleaded not guilty today to assault charges in Sweden.
1:01.8	So A-SP Rocky, right?
1:03.6	You know him.
1:04.6	We know him.
1:05.7	Do you know about this arrest in Sweden?
1:07.8	This case is moving really fast and it kind of freaked me out when I read about it.
1:11.7	Let me read to you President Trump's tweet about it.
1:17.0	We're going to find out why Aesap Rocky's trial has Trump's attention and why the president's outraged. But first
1:26.4	off what exactly happened. Hi Tina, it's Madi.
1:30.8	Madi Savage is a freelance reporter who works for the BBC. We used to work together back in the day at Radio 1 Newsbeat, but she's lived in Stockholm since 2014 and is covering the trial.
1:44.0	This all centres around a fight that happened here in Stockholm.
1:48.0	He was here in the city for a gig at a hip-hop festival. This was part of a European tour.
	...

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