Somalia-born and Toronto-raised rapper, singer, and filmmaker K'naan received a sexual assault charge in Quebec City this week, according to CBC News. Moreover, the claim stems from an alleged incident between July 16 and July 17 back in 2010, in which he allegedly sexually assaulted someone. The artist, real name Keinan Abdi Warsame, was in Quebec City on those dates to perform at a popular summer gathering, the Festival d'été de Québec in the province's capital. According to the Crown prosecutor in this case, Louis-Philippe Desjardins, the alleged victim in question is a woman who was in her late 20s at the time of the alleged assault.
The woman reportedly filed a complaint with Montreal police back in May of 2022, a motion that authorities eventually moved to Quebec City. Per Radio-Canada, this is because K'naan's alleged crime occurred in a hotel in that police force's corresponding area. Although he was not present to witness this, the court began proceedings on this case on Thursday morning (September 26). In addition, they also reportedly set a preliminary inquiry for April 2025 according to Radio-Canada. The outlet also reported the 46-year-old's lawyer's alleged statements that he wants a jury trial in English.
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Furthermore, this accusation comes just days after Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) gifted K'naan with its Cultural Impact Award on Tuesday (September 24). The organization gave him this honor based on the "global and lasting impact" of his 2009 hit, "Wavin' Flag." At press time, it doesn't seem like the director or his legal team have publicly responded to these allegations. Perhaps the near future will hold some sort of statement or legal update when it comes to his court case, one that we won't see updates on for a few months if this report is accurate.
While K'naan has a large legacy as a rapper and musical artist, he also transitioned into filmmaking and philanthropic efforts a lot over the last few years. One relatively recent musical contribution you might remember is his collab with Residente, Snow Tha Product, and Riz MC for "Immigrants (We Get The Job Done)" off of The Hamilton Mixtape. We'll see if we get any case updates on this soon.
