Rihanna brings kids RZA, 2, and Riot, 1, to A$AP Rocky’s assault trial
Rihanna brought her and A$AP Rocky’s two children, RZA and Riot, to a Los Angeles court Thursday, where closing arguments in the rapper’s gun assault trial were set to take place.
The “Love on the Brain” singer, 36, arrived outside the courthouse in a black Escalade, emerging with RZA, 2, in her arms, while another individual carried 1-year-old Riot.
Wearing a black leather coat and over-the-calf python-print boots, Rihanna was shielded from the rain by her bodyguards who covered the Fenty Beauty founder with multiple umbrellas.
Rihanna’s court visit marks the first time she has brought her and A$AP Rocky’s children to their father’s trial, which began Jan. 24. She has attended the trial several other times.
Rocky faces two felony charges of assault with a semiautomatic firearm stemming from a November 2021 dust-up with his former friend A$AP Relli, who testified that Rocky confronted him outside a Hollywood parking garage and threatened him with a gun.
“I’ll kill you right now,” Relli alleged Rocky told him while pointing the gun toward his stomach.
Relli said the hip-hop star then turned around and shot at him, though the bullet only grazed his left hand. Rocky’s former friend sought treatment for injured knuckles at a New York hospital days later.
A$AP Rocky has denied Relli’s accusations.
On Friday, Rocky’s longtime friend and collaborator A$AP Twelvyy testified that the gun the rapper allegedly fired was a starter pistol, or prop gun.
“He walked around with a prop, like a starter pistol,” Twelvyy told the court. “I seen it on several occasions,” he said, adding that Relli knew the pistol wasn’t real.
“He told him to shoot that fake-ass gun,” Twelvyy said when questioned by the defense.
Under cross-examination from Deputy District Attorney John Lewin, Twelvvy was asked if Rocky and Rihanna could damage his career for not telling the couple’s version of events.
“It’s your testimony that even if the defendant and his significant other Rihanna were upset with you, they would have no ability to impact your career whatsoever?” Lewin asked.
Twelvyy replied, “I’m an artist, I could start a new career tomorrow. I could be a painter.”
If convicted, Rocky faces up to 24 years in prison. He did not testify in the trial.
