Rihanna's shining bright like a diamond by her man A$AP Rocky ... showing her support at his L.A. criminal trial Wednesday.
Category
✨
PeopleTranscript
00:00We got to get to the moment that everyone was waiting for in A$AP Rocky's assault trial here in L.A.
00:05Rihanna did show up in court today as we had reported that she would be here, be there on Wednesday to support her man.
00:15But it got off to an interesting start because a lot of people thought, wait a second, she's not showing up.
00:23And that was read a certain way because of things that had happened in the trial yesterday.
00:28She is there, but we're going to tell you about all the things that happened behind the scenes for her to get there,
00:35and the decisions that were clearly made.
00:38A$AP Rocky showed up for court with his attorney, Joe Tacopina, as he has every day.
00:44They walked into court in a huge commotion around him, more than any other day.
00:50And that's because everyone was there expecting Rihanna to walk in.
00:54With him, but she didn't walk in with him.
00:57And so for a moment, people were going, wait, she didn't show up, she didn't show up, what's going on?
01:03Here's what you weren't seeing.
01:06As that was going on, as he's walking in, all the cameras were on him.
01:10Rihanna was in a car that went into the parking garage.
01:14You know you've been down there, Alex, you know.
01:16Well, so they usually people have to go in through the front.
01:20And sometimes they make exceptions for especially high profile people like Rihanna,
01:26who apparently was able to go around back, go in the underground is really where it is,
01:32where you're able to get there, and then the cameras can't see you.
01:35Apparently that's what she did. She is in the front row.
01:38Yes, so we do know she is in court right now. The trial is going on.
01:42There is A$AP Rocky with his legal team sitting next to him.
01:46The camera has been focused on him or on A$AP Relly, who is testifying right now.
01:52That's all it's allowed to do. The photographer is not allowed to shoot it.
01:55Like you're watching some sort of sporting event and get random shots from the crowd.
01:59That's not allowed when you're shooting in court.
02:01But people are watching this, waiting for the camera to pan over.
02:05It's not going to happen. But we have people in court and we know that she is there in the front row.
02:11You're not going to get that money shot that everyone's waiting for.
02:16Well, I'll tell you who is definitely taking notices.
02:19The members of the jury who are sitting there are going to see someone as blindingly famous as Rihanna
02:24sitting in the front row of the gallery. She's probably making eye contact with some of them.
02:28I was wondering whether this could backfire if she shows up too glamorous.
02:32It looks like they're being played a little bit.
02:34But I do think that if she showed up just supporting A$AP Rocky,
02:38it's going to have a beneficial effect for him when that jury pool takes a look.
02:42Well, we have a producer who's sitting in court watching all this.
02:47And we've been told that the jurors absolutely did notice when Rihanna walked in.
02:54And they have been looking at her.
02:57So is it going to have an impact? It's not supposed to.
03:01Well, but we can't think that it doesn't help him.
03:04I mean, a reminder that he's a family guy, that he's got kids, that he's loyal to her.
03:09All that helps him when his character is very much in question in this case.
03:13And Alex, you're exactly right.
03:14He also needs a good day in court after yesterday's testimony from A$AP Relly,
03:18who is the alleged victim in this case, was very, very compelling.
03:21There was video showing A$AP with the gun. He was grazed by the bullet.
03:26So this is going to be a tough case for him to win with that kind of evidence.
03:30He needs good character people out there like Rihanna supporting him
03:34to basically show the jury that he shouldn't be locked up over this.
03:37Yeah, the testimony you mentioned, Derek, from A$AP Relly
03:41went through the details of this is all about an argument that Rocky and Relly got into back in 2021.
03:48And during the argument, Relly says that Rocky pulled out the gun, which you can see here.
03:56Now, Rocky's defense has been that that was a prop gun.
04:01We'll see how that goes. Relly is going to be cross-examined later today by Rocky's team.
04:08So I don't know how they're going to refute this.
04:10But it was to hear him go through the details of it and the shock that he expressed.
04:16He said, I've never seen. They've been friends since high school, by the way.
04:20And he said, I'd never seen him with a gun of any sort, fake or not.
04:24And so for him to produce a gun during this argument, it really shocked me.
04:28You think this is going well for Relly so far, not Variety?
04:32For the prosecution, I think to have Relly up there saying, like, I never saw my friend with a gun.
04:37Suddenly was I was shocked and even said I was prepared to die with my dignity.
04:42I told him, if you're going to pull out a gun, you better use it.
04:45That was the testimony. But again, it always looks one way when the prosecution gets their witness up there.
04:52It always looks like, oh, this is impossible. You've got to wait and see what happens on cross-examination.
04:57And then some people are saying that Relly is a snitch, including a photographer after the court.
05:02Yeah, this was really interesting. After court yesterday, after that testimony,
05:07Relly is walking out and listen to this debate he gets into with one of the photographers out there.
05:33I want to be clear that that was not a TMZ photographer who has a bullet in his leg.
05:38I'm not really sure why he was bragging about that.
05:41By the way, before Rihanna got in court today, perhaps she and Rocky were discussing defense strategy.
05:49They went out for dinner last night. It's been a while since we've seen Rihanna out for dinner.
05:55We know that her favorite restaurant, I think, do you know if Giorgio Baldi's?
05:59I think they've got to be closed. They're very close to the Palisades.
06:03But they went out to a different restaurant last night.
06:05And I also think that part of this is PR.
06:08I mean, that's a pretty clear show that she's backing him.
06:13And they knew that the cameras were going to be there and it didn't seem to shy away from them either.
06:19Hi, Mandy in Toronto. I think the testimony yesterday was very damaging, but Rihanna is that girl.
06:26And I think ASAP not taking the original plea deal speaks volumes.
06:30And look, at the end of the day, all the girlies, we're going to ride for RiRi.
06:34And if she's choosing to back her man, we are here for it.
06:37And I love that she's out here and doing it so publicly.
06:40What a great setup she's got, by the way.
06:43Yeah, I know. It's pretty good.
06:45And by the way, if you're on the jury pool, that's what you're not supposed to do.
06:49You're not supposed to just go, oh, that's RiRi. We ride with her.
06:54But you're thinking that original plea deal might have been looking pretty good for Rocky right now.
06:59I think during dinner last night, there's no way that Rocky and Rihanna weren't talking about,
07:04so what was that plea deal that you didn't take?
07:06It would have been a few months potentially behind bars instead of potentially 24 years in state prison.
07:14Yeah, big difference.