Young Thug’s Probation Will Not Be Revoked Over X Posts

Update, April 4: Young Thug will remain free after a judge declined Atlanta prosecutors’ motion to revoke his probation. In her order, per the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Judge Paige Reese Whitaker did warn that “it may be prudent for Defendant to exercise restraint regarding certain topics” on social media.

Original story published April 2 follows.

Less than six months after Young Thug walked free from jail in Atlanta, prosecutors want to revoke his probation over two X posts. District Attorney Fani Willis filed a motion on April 2, Fox 5 Atlanta reported, claiming the rapper (born Jeffery Williams) “has engaged in conduct that directly threatens the safety of witnesses and prosecutors, compromises ongoing legal proceedings, and warrants immediate revocation of probation.” Lawyers for Thug already filed a response on April 3 requesting the motion be denied. His lead attorney, Brian Steel, called prosecutors’ claims “baseless” in a statement to Vulture. “While intimidation and threats of violence are never appropriate, Jeffery Williams has done nothing wrong,” Steel said. Thug is currently serving 15 years of probation after pleading guilty to a gang charge and various firearm and drug charges, but no contest to a RICO charge, in the trial against his record label, YSL. The rapper is currently getting ready to perform his first shows since his release this summer. Under the terms of his plea, revoking his probation could trigger a 20-year prison sentence.

The prosecutors’ motion centers on an X post Young Thug made on April 1. The post included a photo of Marissa Viverito, an investigator whom prosecutors had requested not be shown during televised court hearings. Viverito testified during Thug’s RICO trial and was now testifying during a separate gang-related murder hearing. After a blogger posted Viverito’s photo to X, Thug posted the same photo with the caption, “Biggest liar in the DA office.” Thug also reposted fan account @ThuggerDaily with more photos of Viverito and the caption “all my homies hate Viverito.” Young Thug and @ThuggerDaily’s posts have both since been deleted. Prosecutors claim the posts are part of a “calculated campaign” by Thug meant “to undermine the legal process,” blaming his posts for leading to online threats that others made against both Viverito and Willis.

In their response, Thug’s lawyers say the prosecutors’ motion “fails, on its face, to allege any conduct by Mr. Williams that would rise to a violation of the probationary sentence.” They argue Thug did not violate probation because there is no evidence he knew of the order not to show Viverito, and the photo he posted was not of Viverito testifying in court. Further, they claim the threats made by other accounts “cannot be attributed to Mr. Williams.”

Thug also personally responded to the claims in another X post on April 2. “I don’t make [threats] to people I’m a good person, I would never condone anyone threatening anyone or definitely participate in threatening anyone,” he wrote. “I’m all about peace and love.”

Related

• What’s Next for Young Thug?