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Jelly Roll Says His ‘Felonies’ Are Preventing Him From Touring Internationally: ‘Legal Puzzles’
Though Jelly Roll has turned his life around, his criminal past is making it difficult for the country singer to leave the U.S. on international tours.
“I’m so excited [to perform outside the United States]. We’re figuring out the final pieces of some legal puzzles for me to get overseas,” the “Son of a Sinner” hitmaker, 39, said in a conversation with Jon Bon Jovi for Interview Magazine published on Wednesday, June 5.
He continued, “It’s funny, America has finally agreed to let me leave and give me a passport, but some countries won’t let me come because of my felonies. We’re working on that. I think it’s going to work in my favor.”
Jelly, whose real name is Jason Bradley DeFord, grew up in the Antioch neighborhood of Nashville. The former rapper was arrested for the first time at 14 years old, and then again at 16 years old for aggravated robbery. He was charged as an adult and served more than a year in prison, along with seven years of probation.
“I never want to overlook the fact that it was a heinous crime,” Jelly told Billboard in 2023. “This is a grown man looking back at a 16-year-old kid that made the worst decision that he could have made in life and people could have got hurt and, by the grace of God, thankfully, nobody did.”
Since he was a teen, the “Save Me” singer has been to jail around 40 times for various drug charges, including possession of marijuana.
Jelly recently opened up about his current stance on marijuana, explaining that he credits the drug for keeping him “sober” when it comes to harder substances — an addiction he struggled with for years.
“I get in trouble for this, all the time, but my stance on marijuana will always be the same: I believe marijuana has helped me in so many regards, with my anxiety. This is a hot button topic, but, truly, marijuana has kept me sober,” he told Taste of Country on May 24. “I think a world without weed, Jelly Roll’s drinking codeine and popping Xanax and snorting cocaine again, but a world with weed, I’ll be alright.”
Jelly continued, “I know that I have friends that don’t do that. I have friends that are in the program that are totally against any kind of mind-altering anything. I respect that. I have so much respect for those people. That’s just not how my sobriety worked out.”
