New Delhi

American rapper Rakim Athelaston Mayers, better known as A$AP Rocky, has pleaded not guilty to assault charges in a Los Angeles court. Rocky has been accused of attacking a former friend with a deadly weapon in Hollywood. He has been charged with two counts of using a semiautomatic rifle to assault Terell Ephron, reported the Rolling Stone. Also known as A$AP Relli, Ephron is a former member of the A$AP Mob, a hip hop collective.

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A$AP Rocky was arrested on April 20, 2022 by the Los Angeles Police Department officers who nabbed him at the Los Angeles International Airport when he was returning from a vacation with his partner and singer, Rihanna. He was charged with potential assault with a deadly weapon in the Hollywood shooting that occurred on November 6, 2021.

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A$AP Rocky paid a bail of $550,000 and was released. The judge has said that A$AP Rocky will not be able to possess firearms or ammunition and also prohibited him from coming within 100 yards of Ephron.

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A$AP Relli's lawsuit against Rocky says that the latter initiated "a verbal altercation".

"During this altercation and while in close physical proximity to the plaintiff, the defendant pulled out a handgun and purposefully pointed it in the direction of the plaintiff and fired multiple shots," continues the lawsuit.

This is not the first assault allegation against A$AP Rocky. In 2019, he was arrested for aggravated and then simple assault in Stockholm, Sweden. He had a street confrontation with a man called Mustafa Jafari. Jafari was beaten by Rocky and his associates.

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A$AP Rocky was ultimately convicted of assault and served a month in jail. He was also asked to pay $1,270 in damages.