Snoop Dogg has never made a secret of his disdain for Donald Trump. But as the 45th President gets set to leave office, it has been reported that Snoop is trying to get the outgoing Commander-In-Chief to do something for an old friend of Snoop's. According to The Daily Beast, the rap legend is working with activists to get Trump to commute the sentence of Death Row Records co-founder Michael “Harry-O” Harris.
“The president knows about it. I’ve spoken with Ivanka [Trump] and I’ve spoken with Jared [Kushner], and I’ve been told that President Trump is aware of the case and has been reviewing it,” Alice Johnson told the Daily Beast. Johnson is a criminal-justice reform advocate whose life sentence was commuted by Trump in 2017. “I’ve spoken to [White House chief of staff] Mark Meadows about it, and he said he’d take a look at it.”
In the early '90s, Harris was convicted on attempted murder and cocaine trafficking-related charges. He is incarcerated at Federal Correctional Institution Lompoc, with a sentence that wasn't supposed to end until 2028.
“Over 30 years ago, I was part of the problem," Harris told the Daily Mail in 2019. "However, over the years I have repeatedly proven myself to be part of the solution. It’s about returning to society with my newfound vision, talents, and insights [and] giving back to the communities where my help is so desperately needed.”
Snoop's work with Trump on Harris's behalf comes on the heels of negativity the rap star has espoused for the President over the years. In 2017, Snoop famously released a remix of BadBadNotGood's "Lavender;" and in the video, a clown version of Trump is assassinated.
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UPDATED:
"Snoop Dogg and others in the fight for social justice have convened around Death Row Records founder Harry-O to help him get a last minute pardon from embattled, outgoing President Donald Trump. The former Los Angeles drug kingpin was scheduled to be released on Oct. 2028, but will now immediately be released from prison."
The site adds:
"Rap producer-turned-activist Weldon Angelos talked exclusively to AllHipHop.com to explain how a concerted effort, which included Snoop Dogg, prison reform activist Alice Marie Johnson and others like Michael 'Hollis' Goldstein, managed to get a pardon for Harris. Weldon Angelos, after serving over a decade of time for selling a small amount of weed in the early 2000’s, received a pardon as well in December.
Angelos said, 'I knew about Harry-O and one of my partners had reached out to him about a year ago, asking if he needed help. [Harry-O] never got that letter…I knew Snoop wanted our help. Snoop called me like 2:30 in the morning on December 27th, wanting to get on with me and Hollis and (other members of the group) to talk about Harry-O. And we set up a call with Alice Johnson. Alice Johnson is my good friend who has President Trump’s ear. President Trump has given Alice the opportunity to provide cases that he will grant if she signs off on it. I have worked with the White House closely and gotten commutations through President Trump. Really Alice Johnson is the one that got this done.'"