K’naan walked out of a Quebec courtroom on Wednesday with a not guilty verdict in a sexual assault case that stretched back 16 years, making him the latest entertainer to beat serious charges in 2026.
Judge Julie Roy found the Grammy-winning artist not guilty of sexually assaulting a woman in his hotel room during the summer of 2010, when he was performing at a festival in Quebec City and riding high off the global success of “Wavin’ Flag.”
The accuser testified that she woke up in the middle of the night feeling K’naan on top of her without consent, but the artist denied the allegation entirely, claiming their encounter was consensual and happened in the morning. Roy acknowledged she didn’t fully believe K’naan’s account, but she couldn’t find him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The woman filed her complaint with Montreal police in May 2022, more than a decade after the alleged incident.
Once in his hotel room at the Hilton, she said they argued over protection; she refused to have sex without a condom, and he became angry. She claimed he tried to force himself on her anyway, but she pushed him off, and they went to sleep. Hours later, she said she woke to find him inside her. K’naan’s acquittal joins a string of high-profile not guilty verdicts for entertainers facing sexual assault allegations.
