Today marks a significant day in politics. Former Vice President Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th President of the United States, while former U.S. Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) took her oath to serve as the Vice President of the United States.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump used his last act as president to grant an extensive list of pardons, and surprisingly (but, at the same time, not so surprisingly), rapper Lil Wayne was among the lucky group.
The Grammy winning rapper, whose real name is Dwayne Carter, was facing a decade in prison after pleading guilty to illegal possession of a firearm.
Trump’s pardon of the “Best Rapper Alive” artist comes nearly three months after Lil Wayne endorsed Trump in a controversial meeting at the White House that ended with a chummy photo-op going viral.
At the time, Lil Wayne tweeted, “Just had a great meeting with @realdonaldtrump. Besides what he’s done so far with criminal reform, the platinum plan is going to give the community real ownership. He listened to what we had to say today and assured he will and can get it done.”
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Several online critics made accusations that the rapper had received a payment from Trump in exchange for Lil Wayne’s support . Now, just a few months later, the cat is out of the bag as Lil Wayne, who was caught with a loaded handgun at a executive airport in Miami, Florida, dodges yet another prison term.
In addition to Lil Wayne, Trump granted a sentence commutation for 23-year-old Florida rapper Kodak Black, born Bill Kahan Kapri. The “Tunnel Vision” rapper was sentenced to nearly four years in prison in 2019 for making a false statement on a firearm application.
Kodak Black has publicly voiced his complaints about how he was being treated in prison, even claiming that the Federal Detention Center of Miami was strategically trying to kill him. He even went as far as tweeting that he would give charity $1 million if the president pardoned him.
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Trump pardoned a total of 70 people, while reducing sentences for 73 people. Among those on the list were former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, Trump adviser Steve Bannon, Google engineer Anthony Levandowski, and Republican Elliott Broidy, to name a few.
Other lesser known individuals that were pardoned or given commuted sentences had cases that ranged from illegal drug activity to money laundering offenses.
