Somali-Canadian rapper K’naan, whose megahit “Wavin’ Flag” became the anthem for the 2010 soccer World Cup, was charged Thursday with sexual assault, according to local media. The 47-year-old rapper, whose real name is Keinan Abdi Warsame, is accused of having sexually assaulted a woman in her 20s in July 2010 when he was in the Canadian city for a music festival.
His lawyers in court Thursday entered a not-guilty plea on his behalf. He was reportedly not present.
A preliminary hearing in the case is scheduled for April 2025.
Born in 1978 in Mogadishu, the rapper who fled the war-wracked Horn of Africa country at the age of 13 grew up in Toronto, turning to rap to learn English, but now lives in the US city of New York.
