Brooklyn rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine was sentenced to four years’ probation on Friday for sexual misconduct involving a 13-year-old girl. The rapper, whose legal name is Daniel Hernandez, admitted in 2015 to “using a 13-year-old in a sexual performance,†that was then posted online. Because the 22-year-old rapper copped to the charge under a “youthful offender†plea agreement, he could have avoided jail time altogether by staying out of trouble, as well as earning his GED and serving 300 community service hours. Prosecutors claimed Hernandez hasn’t held up his end of the bargain — by getting arrested two times in 2018 — and have been pushing for him to get a jail sentence. Cops arrested Hernandez in May after he allegedly attacked a 16-year-old fan at a Texas shopping mall while he was trying to record video of the rapper. Hernandez was then arrested again in May after a traffic stop and accused of assaulting an officer at the station following that arrest.
In pushing for a jail sentence, prosecutor Sara Weiss gave disturbing details about the sexual impropriety and subsequent video capturing the incident. “In late February of 2015, the defendant participated in the sexual violation of a child,†she said. “During that encounter, there was also the creation of sexually explicit videos of that encounter. The defendant was filmed fondling this child’s breasts and smacking her on her buttocks at the same time she was being penetrated by two adult males, she was being penetrated orally and vaginally.â€
“She was in the seventh grade,†Weiss said. “And when it was over, the defendant made the choice to continue to exploit her for his own benefit. He put the video on his social media, on his Instagram account, and he disseminated them online for the whole world to see,†she said. “He was describing himself as a ‘scumbag.’â€
Weiss also said that Tekashi might have shed his scumbag label but is now flaunting “his membership in a violent gang.†“We know he is a gang member because he talks about it. He publicly identifies as a member of 9 Trey,†a Bloods offshoot, she explained.
While asking Judge Felicia Mennin for leniency, Hernandez tried distancing himself from the rapper persona which prosecutors had said was proof of his continued misbehavior. “Your honor, I am Danny Hernandez,†he said. “To the court I am Tekashi 6ix9ine.†Hernandez claimed he was grossly misunderstood, saying he gives out his own money to people in need and that dying children can’t wait to see him. A young brain cancer patient asked for the Make a Wish foundation to arrange a meeting with the rapper, he said. “Your honor, if I was such a bad person, if I was such a criminal,†he said rhetorically, “why would his last wish be to see me?â€
Hernandez also claimed young people see him as “role model.†“They wake up and they’re like, my dream is to be like Tekashi 6ix9ine, not forgetting who he was as a kid not forgetting who he was as a person,†he said. “Your honor,†he continued, “sometimes I feel like I’m behind a closed door trying to convince the world I’m a good man. I’m not Tekashi 6ix9ine. I’m not committing murders, I’m not out there robbing people, I’m not out there raping people.â€
Mennin was apparently swayed by the description of good works, saying he “has engaged in a number of acts of unsolicited generosity and service to members of his community.†Mennin said that he’ll receive credit for one year of his probation. He will remain out as long as he stays out of trouble and does 1,000 community service hours. She also downplayed the Texas incident as him possibly “pushing back against an amateur paparazzi.†When she issued her decision, the courtroom erupted into applause.
Updated: According to TMZ, gunfire broke out at a post-sentencing dinner in mid-town Manhattan following an argument between Hernandez’s entourage and a record executive’s bodyguard. “A third party†allegedly fired four shots during the dispute, hitting one of Hernandez’s bodyguards in the stomach. He was subsequently taken to the hospital.