In the face of the public outcry that arose from the imprisonment of Harlem rapper ASAP Rocky, it appears Swedish authorities are trying to get a handle on the narrative that the rapper’s representatives have painted in the wake of his arrest. The Fader reports that ASAP Rocky’s lawyer Henrik Olsson Lilja denied reports that he was being held in “inhumane conditions” in a statement to a Swedish news outlet, SVT Nyheter. The statement, translated by Google, reads:
“He has never talked to TMZ or any third party regarding the circumstances when he was arrested, ie when he was in the prison. He was then treated and treated properly. However, he has experienced the conditions in the arrest as very simple and has experienced that it smells urine in the cell in the arrest. However, not in detention. The conditions in the arrest cell can in that respect be criticized.
He has lacked appetite at the beginning when he was arrested but tries to eat to the best of his ability. He was to receive a visit from American staff at an early stage when he was arrested, but understood that staff from the embassy were not allowed to enter. At a later date, some day later, however, he has been visited. If this is a violation of the Vienna Convention, he cannot judge. He does not know any other information in the TMZ article.”
Rocky was arrested for assault after a video surfaced depicting the rapper and his entourage fighting a pair of men in the streets of Stockholm. Rocky slams one of the men to the ground in the video and the fighting does appear to be four onto one at one point. However, Rocky later posted about the fight saying that the two men attacked he and his friends first, after following them for blocks and menacing passerby. A report about the conditions in the detention center led to a petition for his release, while the terms of his incarceration — initially set at two weeks — prompted him to cancel the remainder of his European tour.
