{"id":532630,"date":"2026-03-19T10:46:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T10:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/532630\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T10:46:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T10:46:08","slug":"rapper-afroman-wins-lawsuit-against-police-over-mocking-their-2022-raid-in-viral-music-videos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/532630\/","title":{"rendered":"Rapper Afroman wins lawsuit against police over mocking their 2022 raid in viral music videos"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Grammy-nominated rapper Afroman won a defamation lawsuit filed by seven Ohio sheriff\u2019s deputies who sued him<\/a> over music videos in which he used home security footage to mock their raid of his home.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did it, America! Yeah, we did it! Freedom of speech! Right on! Right on!\u201d the 51-year-old rapper, born Joseph Foreman, shouted outside the courthouse after the Wednesday evening verdict. He later posted the clip to social media.<\/p>\n

The case tested the limits of parody and the license artists can take in social commentary directed at public figures. The deputies, collectively, sought nearly $4 million in damages.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo reasonable person would expect a police officer not to be criticized. They\u2019ve been called names before,\u201d defense lawyer David Osborne said in closing arguments for the rapper and comedian, known for his breakout 2000 hit, \u201cBecause I Got High.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Adams County deputies said they were publicly harassed over the viral videos, which were viewed more than 3 million times on YouTube. The videos show rifle-wielding deputies busting down Afroman\u2019s door, searching his shoes and suit pockets, and hungrily eyeing a cake on the kitchen table, inspiring one song\u2019s title, \u201cLemon Pound Cake.\u201d<\/p>\n

In other music videos, Afroman took aim at the deputies\u2019 personal lives and called them \u201ccrooked cops\u201d because of $400 that went missing in the raid.<\/p>\n

\u201cPolice officers shouldn\u2019t be stealing civilians\u2019 money,\u201d the rapper testified this week. \u201cThis whole thing is an outrage.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

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

\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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.\u201d<\/p>\n

The video slows down, showing an officer holding a gun next to a cake stand in Afroman\u2019s kitchen.<\/p>\n

Then he raps: \u201cThe warrant said, \u2018Narcotics and kidnapping\u2019\/ Are you kidding? I make my money rapping,\u201d 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

The deputies, in their testimony, said the songs ridiculed them. Deputy Lisa Phillips said the rapper created a \u201cderogatory\u201d music video that questioned her gender and sexuality.<\/p>\n

Sgt. Randy Walters said his child had been hazed at school over Afroman\u2019s posts and came home crying.<\/p>\n

\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

Afroman\u2019s 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

\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 … that doesn\u2019t justify telling intentional lies designed to hurt people,\u201d he argued.<\/p>\n

Afroman lives in Winchester, about 50 miles outside of Cincinnati.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Grammy-nominated rapper Afroman won a defamation lawsuit filed by seven Ohio sheriff\u2019s deputies who sued him over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":532631,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[88,216],"class_list":{"0":"post-532630","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-music"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=532630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532630\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/532631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=532630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=532630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=532630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}