US rapper who was pardoned by Trump ordered to go to drug rehab

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A US rapper who once had a jail sentence commuted by former president Donald Trump has been ordered to go to drug rehab, after testing positive for fentanyl.

Kodak Black was told by a judge he must spend 30 days in rehabilitation while he awaits trial for a drugs trafficking charge.

The judge in Florida, Barbara Duffy, has allowed the rapper, whose real name is Bill Kapri, to remain free until 7 March, so that he can perform at Rolling Loud festival in Los Angeles, according to the Miami Herald.

A warrant was put out for his arrest earlier in the month, after he missed a court ordered drugs test on 3 February, before testing positive five days later.

Kapri is awaiting trial after being previously arrested in July 2022 on suspicion of trafficking oxycodone.

He denies the charges.

During the hearing, the rapper’s lawyers suggested a lab technician could have been star-struck, and may have mixed up the sample or paperwork – something the technician said was possible.

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However, when the judge recommended Kapri had his hair tested for drugs, the defence said no.

Hair can detect drug samples from up to 90 days prior, rather than the few days captured by blood and urine tests.

In January 2020, then-US president Donald Trump pardoned the rapper and commuted his three-year jail sentence, after he had been found guilty of forging documents used to buy weapons. He had already served half his sentence.

Last year he was shot in Los Angeles, outside a restaurant hosting a party with Justin Bieber.

Kapri is up for the best hip-hop artist trophy at the iHeartRadio awards, and has shifted more than 30 million singles.

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