US rapper Afroman cleared after police sued him over use of home raid footage

Chart-topping US rapper Afroman has been cleared of wrongdoing after Ohio police filed a lawsuit against him, alleging defamation, emotional distress and invasion of privacy after the artist used footage from a police raid on his home in a series of mocking videos.In 2022, police searched the rapper’s home for evidence of drug possession and trafficking, and kidnapping. No evidence was found and no charges were filed.His wife filmed the raid on her phone, and video recordings were also made on home security cameras. Afroman used this footage to make videos in which he taunted the officers and the judge who issued the warrant. He also alleged his property was damaged in the raid and that $400 in cash had been taken from his house.The videos referred to the officers as being from “Adams KKKounty” and made bawdy, coarse jokes about them, including questioning the gender and sexuality of a female officer. The video for the song Lemon Pound Cake – named after the cake an officer glances at in the raid footage – has been viewed 3.5m times on YouTube.The lawsuit claimed Afroman’s videos invaded officers’ privacy and were “willful, wanton, malicious”. It also alleged that his actions endangered the officers, who “suffered humiliation, ridicule, mental distress, embarrassment and loss of reputation”.Afroman, real name Joseph Foreman, in 2001. Photograph: Shawn Baldwin/APDuring the three-day trial, a lawyer for the plaintiffs claimed Afroman “perpetuated lies intentionally, repeatedly, over three and a half years on the internet about these seven brave deputy sheriffs”.But Afroman and his legal team defended the videos as comedy, saying they could not be construed as statements of fact. “Some of it is a social commentary, but it is not fact. And everybody knows that,” said lawyer David Osborne Jr.One of the videos jokingly suggested that the wife of one of the officers, Randolph Walters Jr, had a sexual relationship with Afroman. “It’s caused tremendous pain in my life,” Walters Jr said. “I been with that woman since middle school, I would hope she wouldn’t. But you know what, once someone puts it out there for their fun and entertainment, it’s out there, and it’s a problem.”The jury sided with Afroman. “I didn’t win, America won,” he said after the verdict, speaking to local news service WCPO. “America still has freedom of speech. It’s still for the people by the people … This whole thing is [the police force’s] fault. They broke into my house, put themselves on my video cameras and into my music career. With my freedom of speech, I had the right to talk about the events going on in my life, with my family, with my friends and with my fans.”Afroman is known for a comical style of rap music, most famously with his 2000 track Because I Got High, which blamed a series of lamentable scenarios – paraplegia, homelessness, poor sexual performance – on his drug use. It reached No 1 in the UK charts and the US Top 20. An accompanying album, The Good Times, peaked at No 10 in the US.While Afroman never hit similar commercial heights again, he has released 18 studio albums and remains popular on social media and YouTube.