As expected, outgoing U.S. president Donald Trump has pardoned Lil Wayne and commuted the sentence of Kodak Black.
The rappers were on a list of 73 pardons and 70 commutations Trump issued late Tuesday – his final full day in office.
Lil Wayne, 38, received a pardon after pleading guilty in December to a charge of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. At a Trump campaign event in Miami in October, the rap star – whose name is Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. – publicly praised Trump for his criminal reform efforts after a meeting.
Black, who has a long criminal history, is currently in prison after pleading guilty to weapons charges. Last August, he admitted he falsified information on forms so he could buy firearms from a Florida gun shop. One of the weapons was found at the scene of a shooting in Black’s native Pompano Beach, Florida in March – but he has not been charged in that case.
“I have made some decisions I’m not proud of making,” Black, now 23, said in court. “I do take full responsibility.”
Last November, Black – who was born Dieuson Octave but changed his name to Bill Kapr – pledged to donate $1 million U.S. to charities if Trump pardoned him. “If The President Them Free Me , I’m Gonna Spend 1 million on Charity within The First Year I’m Out. That’s on Everything,” he vowed in a tweet he later deleted.
On Jan. 4, rapper Lil Yachty urged Trump to commute Black’s sentence. “The system punished him way to (sic) hard for a paperwork crime,” he tweeted.
On Tuesday, Trump also pardoned Michael "Harry-O" Harris, the co-founder of Death Row Records who has been in prison for more than 30 years on drug trafficking and murder charges. Among those who fought for Harris was rapper Snoop Dogg.