Rihanna showed up right when A$AP Rocky nee-ee-ee-ee-ee-eeded her. The star made a quiet appearance in court to support her partner as he faces felony assault charges for a 2021 shooting. TMZ first reported yesterday that Rihanna was planning to attend the trial for the first time after it began last week. But media members were confused to see Rocky, born Rakim Mayers, enter court alone today. Instead, per the Associated Press, security escorted Rihanna in separately. She sat with Rocky’s mother and sister, out of view of cameras, wearing a black coat.
Rocky’s attorney, Joe Tacopina, had previously said Rihanna would be unlikely to show up in court, but the pop star has loomed over the trial for weeks. During jury selection, prospective jurors were asked if a Rihanna appearance would sway their verdict. According to the AP, more prospective jurors said they knew of Rihanna than of Rocky. And in an earlier pretrial hearing, Tacopina pushed to refer to Rihanna as Rocky’s “common-law wife,” to the prosecution’s objection. (The judge settled on “significant other.”)
According to TMZ, jurors were “clearly noticing her presence” today. Rihanna showed up for the testimony of A$AP Relli, the rapper and fellow ex-A$AP Mob member who is accusing Rocky of shooting at him. Relli testified that his relationship with Rocky had gotten worse as Rocky’s fame grew. He said it culminated in Rocky’s pulling a gun on him in 2021 after they met outside the W Hotel in Hollywood. “I told him to use it because mentally I couldn’t believe it,” Relli testified on January 28. “I physically could not believe there was a gun in my face. That was the breaking point for me.” Relli said today that a bullet had “grazed” him.
Rocky’s team has claimed the rapper fired blanks from a prop gun he carried for security. Rocky, who turned down a plea deal ahead of the trial, faces up to 24 years in prison if convicted on both counts of assault with a semi-automatic weapon.