Busta Rhymes Addresses Marcellus Williams’ Execution: “Unfathomable Travesty” 

Busta Rhymes is speaking out after Marcellus Williams was executed on Tuesday night (September 24) after spending more than two decades on death row. 

Williams died by lethal injection on September 24 at 6 p.m. CT. He was convicted of the brutal murder of journalist Felicia Gayle in August 1998.  

Williams maintained his innocence and had two previous executions stayed. However, an attempt to exonerate him based on DNA evidence failed, per multiple reports. The U.S. Supreme Court denied a stay of execution amid an outpouring of support, including from the local prosecutor from the office that convicted him.  

Hours before the execution, Busta Rhymes shared a plea to save Williams’ life, arguing his innocence. After the Supreme Court ruling, Busta made another post branding the execution an “Unfathomable Travesty.” He shared an image of Williams alongside his final statement that read: “All Praise Be To Allah In Every Situation!!!” 

“An Unfathomable Travesty has transpired today with the Death of an Innocent Man,” Busta Rhymes wrote. “You didn’t get your Justice here so make sure you serve your Justice from where you are Almighty.”  

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The NAACP was among Williams’ supporters and described the execution as a lynching.  

“Tonight, Missouri lynched another innocent Black man,” NAACP President Derrick Johnson said, per The Washington Post. “When DNA evidence proves innocence, capital punishment is not justice — it is murder.” 

The St. Louis County Prosecutor’s Office convicted Williams but would later support his claims of innocence, agreeing there was no forensic evidence linking him to the murder.