A$AP Rocky will not give evidence at his trial over allegations he fired a gun at a former friend and collaborator.

In court in Los Angeles on Tuesday, the 36-year-old rapper was asked by Superior Court Judge Mark Arnold if he had discussed the issue with his lawyers.

“Absolutely, your honour,” Rocky replied, saying he would invoke America’s Fifth Amendment right to silence. “I want my right not to testify.”

The star’s lawyer, Joe Tacopina, previously said he was “eager to tell his story” and would “love the opportunity to do so”, but putting a defendant through a potentially long cross-examination can often be risky in criminal cases.

Rocky, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, is accused of firing a gun at Terell Ephron, also known as A$AP Relli, a former friend and member of the A$AP crew of collaborators they were part of at school in New York.

Ephron gave evidence earlier in the trial, saying their friendship had broken down and a feud allegedly came to a head on an evening in November 2021.

At the start of the trial, jurors were shown surveillance videos that prosecutors argue make it clear Rocky fired a gun at Ephron outside a parking garage in Hollywood.

However, Mr Tacopina said in his defence opening statement that the gun was not real, but rather a starter pistol carried as a prop. Ephron has been driven by “jealousy, lies and greed”, he told the court.

‘Non-lethal form of self-defence’

On Monday, Rocky’s tour manager Lou Levin became the second witness from his inner circle to testify that he carried a fake gun for security.

The star’s house had previously been broken into by a stalker and others, he said, so he told him it made sense to carry it.

“Security and I thought it would be a good idea, because of the prior violence,” Mr Levin told the court. “It’s just a non-lethal form of self-defence.”

The gun had come from a video shoot in the summer of 2021, he said, about three months before the night in question.

The defence has said it does not have the starter pistol now. The authorities also did not recover the pistol they allege was used.

Rocky is charged with two felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm.

Ahead of the trial, he turned down a plea deal that could have led to a 180-day jail sentence, in exchange for a guilty plea on one count.

He faces up to 24 years in prison if convicted.

The defence has now rested its case, with closing arguments from both sides expected later this week.

A Grammy-nominated music star, actor and fashion mogul, Rocky is the partner of pop superstar Rihanna, and the couple have two young sons.

Rihanna has attended court on several days to show support.

Further investigation is needed into the death of RuPaul’s Drag Race star The Vivienne, a coroner has said, after postmortem testing revealed an “unnatural” cause.

The body of James Lee Williams, who performed as the drag queen, was found at their home in Chorlton-by-Backford, near Chester, on Sunday 5 January.

Cheshire Coroner’s Court in Warrington opened an inquest at a short hearing on Wednesday.

Williams, 32, was found in their bathroom, the court heard. Police attended and confirmed there were no suspicious circumstances.

Coroner’s officer Amanda Edgar said postmortem testing had taken place and identified “an unnatural cause of death”.

Williams was identified by their father, the court heard.

Area coroner Victoria Davies said: “Given the unnatural cause of death identified on postmortem testing it is appropriate for me to formally open the inquest into the death of James Lee Williams.”

Further investigations are required, she said, and the case was adjourned for a full inquest, set for 30 June.

Williams, who grew up in Colwyn Bay, North Wales, before moving to Liverpool, won the first series of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK and came third in the 2023 edition of Dancing On Ice.

Their drag name came from their love of legendary British designer Vivienne Westwood.

RuPaul’s Drag Race judge Michelle Visage was among those who paid tribute after news of their death emerged, saying she was “utterly heartbroken” by the news.

RuPaul said the world had lost an “incredibly talented queen and a lovely human being”.

Read more: The Vivienne – a ‘drag trailblazer’

Contestants from the show including Tia Kofi, Baga Chipz, and Cheryl, along with Steps singer Ian “H” Watkins, TV personality Kim Woodburn and Coronation Street actress Claire Sweeney, were among those who attended their funeral in Denbighshire, North Wales, in February.

Williams also performed as the Wicked Witch of the West in a tour of The Wizard Of Oz musical across the UK and Ireland, and reprised the role in the West End in 2024.

They were due to be back on stage this month as the Childcatcher in a tour of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, a role they first portrayed last year.

Kanye West’s Yeezy online shopping platform has been taken down after selling T-shirts featuring a swastika.

The rapper, also known as Ye, used a Super Bowl commercial on Sunday to send people to his website to buy the clothing emblazoned with the Nazi symbol – an image often used by the extreme-right.

The ecommerce platform Shopify, which hosts many online shops and businesses, has deactivated his site and his domain name yeez.com is being sold for $98,999 (£79,692).

Shopify said in an emailed statement to Sky News’ sister channel NBC News: “All merchants are responsible for following the rules of our platform. This merchant did not engage in authentic commerce practices and violated our terms so we removed them from Shopify.”

West’s representative is yet to respond to a request from NBC for comment.

The white T-shirts featured a black swastika on the front and were the only items for sale on the front page of yeezy.com.

No text or explanation accompanied the item, just the letters “HH-01.” They were available for $20 (£16).

Initially, West’s site showed a notice from Shopify which said the store was “unavailable”.

But the site now redirects to the registrar GoDaddy, the platform which manages yeez.com, where a page shows the domain name is for sale.

GoDaddy has not yet responded to questions about the sale and whether it was enforced by the company or initiated by West.

The decision to sell the T-shirt triggered widespread criticism, including from the Anti-Defamation League (ADF) which posted a statement on X on Monday, describing the shirt sales as further proof of West’s antisemitism.

The organisation, formed to combat anti-Jewish bigotry and discrimination, explained that the swastika was adopted by Hitler and “continues to threaten and instil fear in those targeted by antisemitism and white supremacy”.

The ADF also said the T-shirt was labelled on Kanye’s website as ‘HH-01’ – suggesting this was code for “Heil Hitler”.

Read more from Sky News:
Steve Bannon avoids jail after admitting fraud
Ukraine targets fuel used by Russian military
Armie Hammer addresses cannibalism claims

West has in recent days been posting antisemitic messages on X, as well as writing “I love Hitler” and “I’m a Nazi”. His account then had a “sensitive content warning” added to it before he posted a final message.

“I’m logging out of Twitter,” he wrote. “I appreciate [X owner] Elon [Musk] for allowing me to vent.”

After his account was deactivated on Monday, his spokesperson Milo Yiannopoulos issued an explanation.

“Ye is an intergenerational artist and icon who continues to redefine the limits of creativity and free expression. He has deactivated his X account for the time being,” he said in a statement.

The Campaign Against Antisemitism was joined by Friends star David Schwimmer in calling for Elon Musk to remove West from X over a string of offensive posts.

One of the most successful figures in hop-hip, West built up a fashion brand called Yeezy which began as a collaboration with Adidas. But the German sportswear giant cut ties with him in 2022 over his antisemitic remarks and eventually reached a settlement in October.