{"id":483763,"date":"2026-03-19T09:30:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T09:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/483763\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T09:30:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T09:30:12","slug":"rapper-afroman-wins-lawsuit-against-police-after-using-footage-of-raid-on-his-home-in-viral-music-videos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/483763\/","title":{"rendered":"Rapper Afroman wins lawsuit against police after using footage of raid on his home in viral music videos"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/usEveningHeadlines1_1.png\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Evening Headlines\" class=\"sc-1mc30lb-0 ggpMaE\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekdayYour briefing on the latest headlines from across the USYour briefing on the latest headlines from across the US<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/usEveningHeadlines1_1.png\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Evening Headlines\" class=\"sc-1mc30lb-0 ggpMaE\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Grammy-nominated rapper Afroman has successfully defended himself against a defamation lawsuit brought by seven Ohio sheriff\u2019s deputies. The officers had sued him over music videos that utilised home security footage to satirise their raid on his property.<\/p>\n<p>Following the Wednesday evening verdict, the 51-year-old rapper, whose real name is Joseph Foreman, was jubilant outside the courthouse. &#8220;We did it, America! Yeah, we did it! Freedom of speech! Right on! Right on!&#8221; he exclaimed, later sharing the clip on social media.<\/p>\n<p>The case delved into the boundaries of parody and the creative licence artists can exercise in social commentary directed at public figures. The deputies had collectively sought nearly $4 million in damages. Defence lawyer David Osborne, representing the artist known for his 2000 hit &#8220;Because I Got High,&#8221; argued in closing, &#8220;No reasonable person would expect a police officer not to be criticized. They&#8217;ve been called names before.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Adams County deputies claimed they faced public harassment due to the viral videos, which garnered over three million views on YouTube. The footage depicted rifle-wielding officers breaking down Afroman&#8217;s door, searching his shoes and suit pockets, and notably, eyeing a cake on his kitchen table \u2013 an image that inspired one of his songs, &#8220;Lemon Pound Cake.&#8221; In other videos, Afroman targeted the deputies&#8217; personal lives and labelled them &#8220;crooked cops&#8221; following the alleged disappearance of $400 during the raid.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Rap_Artist_Officers_Lawsuit_25621.jpg\"  loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Afroman, whose real name is Joseph Foreman, poses for a portrait in New York, Aug. 22, 2001. On Monday, March 13, 2023, seven law enforcement officers filed suit against Afroman, accusing the rap artist of improperly using footage from a police raid on his Ohio home last year in his music videos. (AP Photo\/Shawn Baldwin, File)\" class=\"sc-1mc30lb-0 ggpMaE inline-gallery-btn\"\/><\/p>\n<p>open image in gallery<\/p>\n<p>Afroman, whose real name is Joseph Foreman, poses for a portrait in New York, Aug. 22, 2001. On Monday, March 13, 2023, seven law enforcement officers filed suit against Afroman, accusing the rap artist of improperly using footage from a police raid on his Ohio home last year in his music videos. (AP Photo\/Shawn Baldwin, File) (Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/police-officers\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Police officers<\/a> shouldn\u2019t be stealing civilians\u2019 money,\u201d the rapper testified this week. \u201cThis whole thing is an outrage.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In court \u2014 wearing a red, white and blue American flag suit \u2014 he defended his work on First Amendment grounds and said he issued the diss tracks to cover damages from the raid, including a broken gate and front door. <\/p>\n<p>No charges were filed over the 2022 raid, which the warrant said was part of a drug and kidnapping investigation. In his testimony, he said he had the right to tell his friends and fans what police had done. He said the raid traumatized his children, then 10 and 12.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe whole raid was a mistake. All of this is their fault. If they hadn\u2019t have wrongly raided my house, there would be no lawsuit. I would not know their names,\u201d Foreman said. \u201cThey wouldn\u2019t be on my home surveillance system, and there would be no songs, nothing.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The lyrics of \u201cWill You Help Me Repair My Door?\u201d address the police directly: \u201cDid you find what you were looking for\/ Would you like a slice of lemon pound cake\/ You can take as much as you want to take\/ There must be a big mistake.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The video slows down, showing an officer holding a gun next to a cake stand in Afroman&#8217;s kitchen.<\/p>\n<p>Then he raps: \u201cThe warrant said, \u2018Narcotics and kidnapping\u2019\/ Are you kidding? I make my money rapping,&#8221; and \u201cYou crooked cops need to stop it\/ There are no kidnapping victims in my suit pockets,\u201d as a video shows the officers searching his closet.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Afroman-2.JPG\"  loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"The Because I Got High performer playing in Mississippi\" class=\"sc-1mc30lb-0 ggpMaE inline-gallery-btn\"\/><\/p>\n<p>open image in gallery<\/p>\n<p>The Because I Got High performer playing in Mississippi<\/p>\n<p>The deputies, in their testimony, said the songs ridiculed them. Deputy Lisa Phillips said the rapper created a \u201cderogatory&#8221; music video that questioned her gender and sexuality.<\/p>\n<p>Sgt. Randy Walters said his child had been hazed at school over Afroman\u2019s posts and came home crying. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere in the world is it OK to make something up for fun that\u2019s damaging to others when you know for sure it\u2019s an absolute lie?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n<p>Afroman&#8217;s lawyer, in closing arguments, said it was not unusual for artists engaged in social commentary to exaggerate. Robert Klingler, representing the deputies, said Afroman lied about \u201cthese seven brave deputy sheriffs\u201d for the past three years. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cEven if somebody does something to you that hurts you, that you think is wrong \u2014 like a search warrant execution that you think is unfair &#8230; that doesn&#8217;t justify telling intentional lies designed to hurt people,\u201d he argued. <\/p>\n<p>Afroman lives in Winchester, about 50 miles (80 km) outside of Cincinnati.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekdayYour briefing on&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":483764,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[96,128,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-483763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=483763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483763\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/483764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=483763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=483763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=483763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}