In yet another high-profile act of clemency, President Donald Trump has pardoned rapper NBA Youngboy. The move, clearing a federal gun charge that sent the rapper to prison last year, comes in a week that has seen Trump use his clemency power on several high-profile individuals.
NBA Youngboy announces pardon: ‘This moment means a lot’
Kentrell DeSean Gaulden, who performs under the stage name NBA Youngboy, posted on Instagram Wednesday to thank Trump for pardoning him; the White House later confirmed the pardon.
“I want to thank President Trump for granting me a pardon and giving me the opportunity to keep building — as a man, as a father, and as an artist,” Gaulden said in the post. “This moment means a lot. It opens the door to a future I’ve worked hard for and I am fully prepared to step into this.” Gaulden also thanked his lawyer, Brittany K. Barnett, and Alice Marie Johnson, whose sentence Trump commuted during his first term and who now serves as Trump’s “pardon czar.”
The rapper was sentenced to prison in 2024 on charges of possessing firearms despite being a convicted felon. He has already completed the prison term and home confinement that were parts of his sentence. The pardon, however, means he’ll no longer have to abide by probation terms such as mandatory drug testing, and the criminal conviction will be cleared from his record.
Trump’s history of granting clemency
Trump issued pardons or commutations to several hip-hop figures at the end of his first term in office, including rappers Lil Wayne and Kodak Black, Death Row Records co-founder Michael “Harry-O” Harris and Roc Nation CEO Desiree Perez. During both terms in office, Trump has also issued pardons to several of his supporters, including most of those convicted of crimes related to the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
The move to wipe out NBA Youngboy’s conviction is the latest of several high-profile pardons Trump issued over the past few days. On Monday, Trump posted a video of a call to the family of Todd and Julie Chrisley, formerly stars of the reality show Chrisley Knows Best, to inform them that he was pardoning the couple of their federal fraud convictions; the Chrisleys were released from prison on Wednesday following the pardon. Also, on Wednesday, Trump announced that he was commuting the federal sentence of former Gangster Disciples gang leader Larry Hoover. However, Hoover remains in prison to serve a 200-year state sentence on murder charges.
So far, the list of people who have received clemency from Trump this week is an unusual assortment of figures. Given the president’s past practices, it’s likely that we’ll see even more pardons during his term, though who he’ll pardon next and when remain mysteries to the public.
