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K’naan took the stand last week in Quebec City and flatly denied he ever sexually assaulted the woman, accusing him of raping her in a hotel room back in 2010.
The Grammy-winning rapper’s testimony marked the turning point in a trial that’s been laying bare the competing narratives of what went down that July night at the Hilton.
“That never happened. There was not a single ambiguous moment about consent with her. It never happened,” he said from the witness box.
The woman testified earlier this week that the evening started like a fairy tale. He was charming, held her hand, and brought her backstage to his Festival d’été de Québec performance.
But everything shifted when she asked about protection. She said he got “enormously angry.” He said the mood just got heavy.
Both agree they fell asleep after that conversation. Both agree they had sex the next morning. That’s where the story splits in half.
She says she woke in the middle of the night to find him inside her without permission. He says that’s a lie. He says she initiated the morning sex, and that was it.
When she sent him a YouTube video about sexual consent in 2015, years after they’d stopped talking, he dismissed it.
“Because it was absurd. I don’t see a consent issue at all to talk about,” he told the court. “She initiated the sex and that’s it.”
The woman filed a police complaint in May 2022, more than a decade after the alleged assault.
They’d stayed in touch over the years through emails and texts, with her eventually telling him: “Right. Because you have absolutely no clue of what you did.”
According to CBC News, testimony wrapped this week with closing arguments scheduled for April 1.
If convicted, K’naan faces up to 10 years in prison.
The 48-year-old built his career on socially conscious Hip-Hop, earning international recognition for his 2009 anthem “Wavin’ Flag,” which became the official song for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
The judge will decide who’s telling the truth.
