Wiz Khalifa has been sentenced to nine months in prison by a Romanian court for smoking cannabis on stage.
The American rapper, whose legal name is Thomaz Cameron Jibril, admitted to smoking a joint during his performance at the Beach, Please! festival in Costinesti last year.
An appeals court in Romania overturned an earlier fine of 3,600 Romanian lei (£619; $829) for drug possession, ruling that the rapper must serve the sentence in custody.
The sentencing occurred in absentia, and it remains unclear whether Jibril is currently in Romania, with his most recent appearance being a performance with Gunna in California on Tuesday.
The BBC has reached out to the ten-time Grammy-nominated artist for comment.
Following the concert on July 13, 2024, police briefly detained and questioned Jibril, after which prosecutors charged him with possession of “risk drugs” for personal use.
Romanian investigators stated that he possessed over 18 grams of cannabis and consumed an additional amount on stage.
In a written decision, judges from the Constanța Court of Appeal explained that they overturned the original fine because the artist had conveyed “a message of normalisation of illegal conduct,” thereby encouraging “drug use among young people.”
The judges described it as an “ostentatious act,” noting that the rapper, “a music performer on the stage of a music festival well known among young people,” “possessed and consumed, in front of a large audience predominantly made up of very young people, an artisanal cigarette.”
Following the incident, Jabril stated in a post on X that he did not intend to offend the country.
“They [the authorities] were very respectful and let me go. I’ll be back soon. But without a big ass joint next time.”
Romanian criminologist Vlad Zaha told BBC News that there was little chance of the US extraditing Jibril, describing the sentence as “unusually harsh.”
“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,” Mr. Zaha stated.
The artist, known for songs such as “Black and Yellow,” “See You Again,” and “Young, Wild & Free,” is frequently pictured smoking on his social media and launched his own marijuana brand in 2016.
While cannabis is legal for recreational and medical use in some US states, it remains illegal under federal law.
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