Wiz Khalifa was given a nine-month prison sentence in Romania for smoking marijuana while performing
Wiz Khalifa was given a nine-month prison sentence by a Romanian court for using cannabis while performing.
During his performance at the Beach, Please! event in Costinesti last year, the American rapper, whose true name is Thomaz Cameron Jibril, acknowledged smoking a marijuana.
An earlier drug possession fine of 3,600 Romanian lei (£619; $829) was overturned by a Romanian appeals court, which also mandated that the rapper serve the sentence in jail.
He was punished in absentia, nevertheless. He was spotted playing live with Gunna in California earlier this week, and on Thursday, he shared images and videos from his house on social media and the streaming service Twitch.
The ten-time Grammy nominee has been contacted by the BBC for comment.
Following the performance on July 13, 2024, Jibril was temporarily detained and questioned by police. Prosecutors then accused him of possessing “risk drugs” for his own use.
According to Romanian investigators, he had over 18 grams of cannabis and used more while performing.
The justices of the Constanța Court of Appeal stated in a written ruling that they had reversed the initial judgment because the artist had promoted “drug use among young people” by sending “a message of normalization of illegal conduct.”
describing it as a “ostentatious act” , the judges stated that the rapper was “a music performer, on the stage of a music festival well known among young people” that “possessed and consumed, in front of a large audience predominantly made up of very young people, an artisanal cigarette” .
A day following the incident, Jabril stated in a post on X that he had no intention of offending the nation.
“The officials treated me with the utmost respect and released me. I will return shortly. Next time, though, avoid a big ass joint.
Romanian criminologist Vlad Zaha called the punishment “unusually harsh” and told BBC News that there was little to no possibility that the US would extradite Jibril.
“Given the defendant’s wealth and connections, Romania’s lack of real negotiating power on extradition, and the legal and political status of cannabis in the US, it is highly unlikely that Wiz Khalifa will be sent to serve a prison sentence in Constanța, even though a formal judicial request will be submitted to the United States,” said Zaha.
The musician, who started his own marijuana company in 2016, is frequently seen smoking on social media and is well-known for songs like Young, Wild & Free, See You Again, and Black and Yellow.
While several US states allow the recreational and medical use of cannabis, federal law still prohibits it.
