With glowing media coverage of their efforts, professional athletes in Philadelphia are pushing for the release of gangsta rapper and prison inmate Meek Mill (photographed at 76ers' game with Nicki Minaj in 2016). Today Bleacher Report and TMZ both called attention to the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers visiting Mill in prison because they believe he's being treated so unfairly by the law. During the past football season, the Super Bowl champion Eagles also made Mill's release a major priority.
Two months ago, I wrote about the Eagles adopting Mill's "Dreams and Nightmares," with its detestable lyrics, as their unofficial anthem. They ran onto the field to prior to Super Bowl 52 to the tune of this mulch.
Now the rest of the story: neither TMZ or Bleacher Report mentioned why the notorious rapper is in prison. He's a perpetual breaker of laws and violator of parole, but from reading these two accounts one would think Mill is a great humanitarian and unjustly imprisoned.
Both news reports explain that the Sixers' Markelle Fultz and Ben Simmons visited Mill in jail yesterday. Bleacher Report's Joseph Zucker mentions that team "co-owner Michael Rubin helped put the visit together so that Meek Mill could share some 'words of wisdom' ahead of the NBA playoffs."
The non-bylined TMZ report said Rubin was ...
"hoping Meek could provide some inspiration for the rookie stars so they can make a push for the NBA playoffs. Rubin's been a huge supporter of Meek while he's been locked up, visiting often and bringing along other players, like Joel Embiid. One source with knowledge of the situation tells us ... 'the conversation was very positive and Meek's spirits are still high. He is also proud of the 76ers.'"
TMZ also reminds readers, "Remember, Meek also received a ton of support and love from the Philadelphia Eagles during their Super Bowl run -- so, maybe he's the key to success?!"
Bleacher Report wrote, "Meek Mill, whose real name is Robert Williams, received a prison sentence of two to four years last November after violating terms of probation stemming from a 2008 arrest." That's it, just a passing reference to a 2008 arrest. Here' what the two blog sites intentionally omitted about that and Mill's other arrests:
At the age of 18, Mill was arrested for illegally possessing a firearm and assaulting police.
In 2008, Mill was sent to prison for drug dealing and gun possession. He was released in 2009, but violated parole.
In 2014, Mill went back to jail for violating his parole. Last year Mill assaulted two people in St. Louis and was returned to prison.
Mill has also been on probation for numerous parole violations, but he remains a "role model" for athletes who can inspire them for the playoffs and for media who enjoy writing feel-good stories about a criminal!
