Rihanna and A$AP Rocky vow to name ‘next baby’ after their lawyer over assault trial verdict, he says
Rihanna and A$AP Rocky have promised his lawyer Joe Tacopina that their next child will be named in his honor, he has claimed.
On Wednesday, the “Praise the Lord” rapper, 36, was found not guilty of two felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm in a 2021 shooting incident.
Tacopina, who led the rapper’s legal team toward triumph during the nearly four-week trial, claimed that the couple — who already share sons RZA, 2, and Riot, 1 — are looking to name their next baby after him.
“They grabbed me and they said, ‘Listen, our next baby A$AP Joe,’” Tacopina told Extra. “I said, ‘I’m gonna hold you to that!’”
He added that the “Kids Turned Out Fine” hitmaker told him that “he loved me and we’re family.”
The rapper faced up to 24 years in prison if he was convicted of the assault stemming from an alleged altercation with his former friend A$AP Relli four years ago.
During the hearing, Rocky — whose real name is Rakim Mayers — almost collapsed as he grabbed his legal team before turning to Rihanna and his loved ones who were seated in the first row.
The rapper’s emotional reaction initially worried Tacopina, who noted that Rocky began celebrating after the first count was read out, instead of waiting for all counts to be read aloud.
“I told my partner, ‘Get him back here, we have another count,’” he recalled. “I’m thinking, ‘My God, if the second count doesn’t go well, this is gonna be embarrassing.’ But of course it did, and I was confident it was going to.’”
Tacopina added that the nerves appeared to get the better of Rocky, who “didn’t know if he was going to go home and see his two babies that night or start a decade-long prison sentence literally that day.”
“He grabbed me and he said, ‘Joe, I want you to know, I know how hard you fought here. I know everything you’ve done, and I just appreciate you so much,’” Tacopina told the outlet.
“It’s obviously a very serious moment for him, and he has the wherewithal and the thought to think, ‘Let me thank this guy.’ It was special that he did that.”
Rocky’s girlfriend, Rihanna, rushed to social media just moments after the jury reached their verdict Tuesday.
“THE GLORY BELONGS TO GOD AND GOD ALONE,” the 9-time Grammy winner, 36, wrote in an Instagram Story shared with her 150 million followers on the platform. “THANKFUL, HUMBLED BY HIS MERCY!”
