In a stunning testament to the power of free speech—and then using that free speech to mercilessly drag the shit out of some cops who kicked down your door—rapper Joseph “Afroman” Foreman has been named the clear victor in a defamation suit brought against him by said law enforcement professionals. Per NBC News, an Ohio jury ruled on Wednesday that Foreman was not liable on any of 13 charges brought against him by members of the Adams County Sheriff Department, who claimed that Foreman defamed and harmed them by writing songs about them, and posting music videos featuring footage of them, on social media in the years since his house was raided on an (ultimately fruitless) search warrant looking for drugs and “evidence of a kidnapping” in 2022.
The most prominent—but by a pretty healthy measure, not the only—one of these videos was “Lemon Pound Cake,” in which Afroman mocked one particular deputy for appearing to take special interest in a slice of cake on his kitchen counter in footage of the raid. (It also included musical references to “Under The Boardwalk” and the rapper’s own “Because I Got High,” because Afroman knows what the people want to hear, to the tune of about 3.4 million views on YouTube and a whole lot of merch in his shop.) Other accusations were less whimsical: Foreman posted videos, both musical and not, accusing various deputies of sexual crimes, corruption, and more; at least one testified during the trial that he quit the department in response to accusations of pedophilia made against him on social media.
During the trial, Foreman made it clear he had no regrets for his postings, citing his First Amendment rights: “I got freedom of speech. After they run around my house with guns, kicked down my door, I got the right to kick a can in my backyard, use my freedom of speech, turn my bad times into a good time… I think I’m a sport for doing so because I don’t go to their house, kick down their doors, flip them off on their surveillance cameras, then try to play the victim and sue them.” Foreman celebrated his win on social media on Wednesday, dancing in an American flag suit with supporters—although you could argue that he actually started celebrating a few days earlier, when he apparently started going on YouTube and uploading even-more explicit—and specific—songs and videos about some of the deputies (including songs with titles like “Randy Walters Is A Son Of A Bitch,” in which Afroman states that he had sex with Sgt. Walters’ wife), while the trial was still ongoing. (Several of the cops in question then testified about those lyrics during the three-day trial, which created some fairly tense and fascinating moments—none of which apparently swayed the jury from their ultimate pro-Afroman course.)
