American rapper Wiz Khalifa has been sentenced to nine months in prison in Romania after smoking cannabis during a live performance, in a ruling that has drawn international attention and criticism.
A Romanian appeals court overturned an earlier fine and ordered the jail sentence after the artist, whose real name is Thomaz Cameron Jibril, admitted to smoking a joint on stage while performing at the Beach, Please! festival in Costinești on July 13, 2024. The original penalty — a fine of 3,600 Romanian lei (about £619 / $829) — was replaced with a custodial sentence following an appeal by prosecutors.
According to a report by the BBC, Wiz Khalifa was sentenced in absentia, and it remains unclear whether he is currently in Romania. He was last seen earlier this week performing in California alongside Gunna. The BBC has reached out to the 10-time Grammy-nominated artist for comment.
Romanian authorities briefly detained and questioned Khalifa after the concert before releasing him. Prosecutors later charged him with possession of what Romanian law classifies as “risk drugs” for personal use. Investigators said the rapper possessed more than 18 grams of cannabis and consumed additional amounts during the performance.
In their written decision, judges at the Constanța Court of Appeal said the original fine was insufficient, arguing that Khalifa’s actions sent “a message of normalisation of illegal conduct” and encouraged “drug use among young people.”
Calling the act “ostentatious,” the court noted that Khalifa was “a music performer, on the stage of a music festival well known among young people,” and that he “possessed and consumed, in front of a large audience predominantly made up of very young people, an artisanal cigarette.”
A day after the incident, Khalifa addressed the situation on X, saying he did not intend to offend Romania.
“They [the authorities] were very respectful and let me go,” he wrote. “I’ll be back soon. But without a big ass joint next time.”
Legal experts have questioned whether the sentence will ever be enforced. Romanian criminologist Vlad Zaha told BBC News that the likelihood of the United States extraditing Khalifa is extremely low, describing the punishment 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,” Zaha said.
Wiz Khalifa, known for hits such as Black and Yellow, See You Again, and Young, Wild & Free, has long been associated with cannabis culture and frequently shares images of himself smoking on social media. In 2016, he launched his own marijuana brand.
While cannabis is legal for recreational and medical use in several U.S. states, it remains illegal under U.S. federal law — and strictly prohibited in Romania, where possession and public use can carry serious penalties.
