American rapper Wiz Khalifa, born Thomaz Cameron Jibril, has been sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment in Romania for smoking cannabis during a festival performance.
The Constanța Court of Appeal overturned an earlier ruling that fined the artist 3,600 Romanian lei (about $829) for drug possession, replacing it with a custodial sentence. The judgment was delivered in absentia, and it remains unclear whether Khalifa is currently in Romania, as he was recently seen performing alongside Gunna in California.
The incident occurred on July 13, 2024, when police briefly detained and questioned the rapper after his performance. Prosecutors later charged him with possession of “risk drugs” for personal use, stating that he was found with more than 18 grams of cannabis and had consumed some of it on stage.
In their ruling, the judges described Khalifa’s conduct as “ostentatious,” noting that as a globally popular performer with a large youth following, his actions risked normalising illegal behaviour and encouraging drug use.
Following the incident, Khalifa issued an apology on X, stating that he did not intend to disrespect Romania and promising to return “without a big joint next time.”
However, Romanian criminologist Vlad Zaha told the BBC that extradition to the United States was highly unlikely. He cited Khalifa’s financial status, the legal standing of cannabis in many parts of the US, and Romania’s limited leverage in such cases. Zaha described the sentence as unusually severe and said it was improbable that the rapper would ultimately serve time in Constanța, even if a formal judicial request were made.
