PHILADELPHIA — Hours after it was announced he would be released from prison, rapper Meek Mill attended Game 5 of the NBA playoffs between the Philadelphia 76ers and Miami Heat.
"Welcome home Meek Mill," the public announcer said at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, The Associated Press reported. Cheers erupted from the crowd and Meek walked out onto the court to ring a Liberty bell Replica with fellow Philadelphian Kevin Hart. The comedian and 76ers co-owner Michael Rubin had visited Meek in prison earlier Tuesday, hours before his release.
Hart added that Meek, whose birth name is Robert Rihmeek Williams, was at the game with his son, 7-year-old Papi.
"Mill being here tonight was amazing, but him being here tonight was bigger than the Sixers," Hart told WPVI after the game. "It was more about getting out, beating something that was incorrect and now having the opportunity to stand in front of that incorrection and correct it. It's about saying, OK guys, look, in the system that we have today in Philadelphia and everywhere else there's a lot of injustice, and now we have the opportunity to poke holes in that injustice and shine a light on it and hopefully correct it. I think he's going to take full advantage of his opportunity, his platform, the pedestal that he stands on, and really draw more attention to it and hopefully make other people look at it in a way that we can start to change it."
"Today, Meek Mill, a son of Philadelphia, is a free man," JAY-Z said in a statement Tuesday. "He was incarcerated unjustly and caught in a probation trap for years by a broken system. Now we can celebrate his release. We thank every individual that has supported and fought alongside Meek every step of the way."
The 76ers won 104-91 against The Heat.