Below is my column on Fox.com on the victory this week of Joseph E. Foreman, aka “Afroman,” in defending a lawsuit brought by police officers who raided his house. While perhaps lost in the theatrics, the Foreman verdict was a victory for free speech in protecting the right to parody government officials.
Here is the column:
When singer Joseph E. Foreman took the stand recently in Ohio, his message, like his lyrics, was hardly subtle. Indeed, counsel may have been unsure whether to examine or to hoist him. The rapper, known as “Afroman,” appeared in a suit modeled after an American flag with matching flag-patterned sunglasses. He lashed out at the seven police officers who raided his home and then sued him for publicly mocking them. He insisted that he was the virtual embodiment of the First Amendment in all of its glory.
A jury agreed, at least insofar as finding him protected in his parody and public portrayal of the officers.
Almost three years ago, I wrote about the case and expressed deep skepticism about the legal viability of the case in light of free speech protections for filming and criticizing public officials.
Foreman, 51, became famous for a humorous rap song, “Because I Got High.” Later, he became even more famous after the released security camera footage of officers breaking down the door to his home and holding him and his family at bay with drawn weapons. While the warrant was granted to look for evidence of kidnapping, marijuana, and drug paraphernalia, they found nothing.
Foreman then decided to go on the offensive with videos showing the raid and rap songs using his signature style to mock the officers (including one who seemed to stop in the midst of the raid to look at a fresh lemon pound cake on the counter. He told NPR, “I asked myself, as a powerless Black man in America, what can I do to the cops that kicked my door in, tried to kill me in front of my kids, stole my money, and disconnected my cameras? And the only thing I could come up with was make a funny rap song about them … use the money to pay for the damages they did and move on.”
In “Will You Help Me Repair My Door?” he taunted the officers: “Did you find what you were looking for?/Will you help me repair my gate and door/Would you like a slice of my lemon pound cake?/You can take as much as you want to take/There must be a big mistake.”
The humor highlighted what he viewed as an absurdly broad warrant: “The warrant said ‘Narcotics and kidnapping’/The warrant said “Narcotics and kidnapping”/Are you kidding? I make my money, rapping/Why does the warrant say ‘Narcotics?’ (Well, I know narcotics)/But why kidnapping?”
That was followed up by an even more popular video titled “Lemon Pound Cake”: “The Adams County Sheriff kicked down my door/Then I heard the glass break/They found no kidnapping victims/Just some lemon pound cake…Mama’s lemon pound cake/It tastes so nice/It made the sheriff wanna put down his gun/And cut him a slice (of what? Of what?).”
It became an instant hit.
Some of the images from Foreman’s security cameras were also used to sell commercial products, including promotional videos. In an Instagram post, he wore a shirt with the surveillance images and thanked one of the officers for helping him get 5.4 million views on TikTok.
In a social media posting, he wrote, “Congratulations again you’re famous for all the wrong reasons.”
The six officers and one detective were obviously irate at the public abuse and ridicule that followed. In their complaint, they alleged that their families were traumatized and harmed.
The mockery continued during the trial.
Foreman’s appearance in his flag suit captured his style and his strategy. He was there to make an unmistakable point and the flag outfit was part of the effort to attract maximal attention.
While controversial for some, his fashion choice followed other famous free speech advocates. Hustler Magazine publisher Larry Flint in 1983 wore a flag diaper to court. (He was then charged with desecrating the flag– a charge later dropped by prosecutors).
Likewise, in 1968, activist Abbie Hoffman wore a shirt resembling an American flag to a House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) hearing, protesting the Vietnam War. When he was arrested, he declared, “I regret that I have but one shirt to give for my country.” (His conviction was later overturned).
Foreman attacked Adams County Deputy Sheriff Lisa Phillips in an expletive-laden music clip posted on Instagram just hours after she gave tearful testimony in court: “Where was these tears when she was standing in my yard with a loaded AR-15 ready to Swiss cheese me?”
Foreman was equally unapologetic on the stand: “All of this is their fault, If they hadn’t wrongly raided my house, there would be no lawsuit, I would not know their names, they wouldn’t be on my home surveillance system and there would be no songs.”
My skepticism about the lawsuit stemmed from the obvious opinion and political content of his posting. Courts have also ruled that citizens may film officers in public despite repeated efforts to criminalize such filming.
The claims of defamation, misappropriation of names or likeness, and false light all ran into the same First Amendment protections.
Foreman is an artist expressing his criticism of the police in the raid on his home. Foreman had a right to object to the raid that he viewed as unjustified and even racially motivated.
Foreman clearly used his celebrity status to exact a measure of revenge. However, any liability for showing officers during a raid would have had a chilling effect on political speech, including when such speech is part of creative work.
Since the founding of the Republic, parody and songs have been used to criticize government officials and policies.
Foreman celebrated after the verdict, proclaiming, “It’s not only for artists. It’s for Americans. “We have freedom of speech. They … did me wrong and sued me because I was talking about it.”
Yes, Foreman is over-the-top in every respect. Yet, there was a method to the madness. Strip away the flag suit, the over-the-top lyrics, he had a point. Add the suit and the rap, he had an audience.
Jonathan Turley is a law professor and the best-selling author of “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution.”
My question is how did this case even make it to trial??? It should have never even gone to trial, there were no factual questions and the law on this is crystal clear, in Afroman’s favor. It should have been ended in summary judgment BEFORE TRIAL in Afroman’s favor. Shame on the judge that allowed it to go to trial, and then the jury.
Afroman Is #1! We all need to keep our guard up against the police state that is gradually eroding our constitutional rights.
The cover up is worse than the event and so it was here. When the guy laughed about fixing the door, he thought he was safe hiding behind the law protecting the government from their mistakes. Little did not know what would follow. If the police had issued an apology and fixed the gate and door, they would not have become internet famous. Our cherished Constitutional protects are under assault by the very people who should be protecting us. What a clown show. The cops were ill advised and double down on dumb when they thought they were in the right just because they are the police. For some it is an honorable calling. For these chosen few their uniform was a costume, and they were the bad actors in this sideshow.
If one event stands out to me, the worse thing was them disconnecting the surveillance system. This to me was the icing on the cake. Followed by a close second of the missing cash. That is the very essence of a corrupt cop.
Next, I think Afroman should sue the city under a public takings theory to pay for the damage. After all the police raided for the good of the public, trashed the place for the good of the public, and stole the money for the good of the public.
F#$k yeah, Afroman!! The beginning of precedent to punish the door kickers in the only way that will stop them.
Fox News in the only network that I see which is reporting that Afroman’s jury was all Black (in a majority white community),
Major major mistake.
The jury made the right decision.
Agreed, says this white guy.
Fox News in the only network that I see which is reporting that Afroman’s jury was all Black (in a majority white community),
Major major mistake.
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You’re SPECULATING the case was decided based on Afroman’s race. It wasn’t, as the comments here prove up. Case would have ended the exact same way with an all lily white jury, because most Americans, 99%, are solid stand up honest people. Stop race baiting. The issue here, government misconduct, was obvious….
Good for him for setting aside rage and violence and picking the most potent of weapons, humor and ridicule. He provides a good example for all to follow.
In hindsight I bet the police Dept wishes they had just ponied up the 20K to repair his home.
You go Afroman
Give the man credit for originality and bravado. I have never been a rap fan but I think this event was made to order for a rap musical.
He has the right to express his displeasure, especially since nothing was found.
The officers will survive. I have yet to see someone treated for embarrassment.
The air was filled with music and not bullets.
You have to watch the video clips from the trial. They are so funny I could not help but laugh out loud. Good for Afroman.
This story would be more complete if the detective(s) who drew up the warrant were publicly ridiculed.
How dare he mock our cherished police officers. God will exact his penalty. And it will not be good for him and his family. Jesus is Lord!
How dare he mock our cherished police officers. God will exact his penalty. And it will not be good for him and his family. Jesus is Lord.
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As the trial showed, PARODY IS PROTECTED SPEECH.
Good for him. I hope his songs traumatized those cops and the judge who signed off on the warrant. Things like Thin Blue Line and Shades of Blue are based in reality. Too often we see the law, lawyers, and legal system in general being no better than the crooks.
Satire directed against authorities has persisted ever since mankind developed a sense of humor.
Students against teachers, kid against parents, citizens against politicians, you name it. It’s a fixture of us all, at the family dinner table, in the newspapers, and now on social media.
BUT, its a good thing Afroman doesn’t practice his art in the UK, or he’d be even now serving a 20 spot at Newgate.
Developed? When was that?
Good for him! I don’t much like rap either, but what he did was 100% necessary and justified. Too many cops would very much like to be the “secret police” so that they might abuse the rest of us as they see fit, without scrutiny. If that happened, the abuses would skyrocket. In many jurisdictions and in many ways, cops are able to exercise a great deal of extrajudicial power. Public shaming appears to be one of the few tactics that can be effective to minimize that behavior.
Hell yeah for Afroman! Calling out fishing trips by cops who pair the “trip” with idiotic use of force and firepower deserve to be slapped down and made a fool of! Interesting that there is little to no information on what justified the original search warrant other than the typical Black Robe Illuminati Blank Check sign-off of “drugs and kidnapping’ assertions made by some half-wit detective who barely graduated high school.
I don’t like rap music, but I love what Foreman did, in both his parody and his defense of his rights. His legal victory is the reason why I believe we live in the greatest country on earth, at least when it comes to freedom.
The cops deserved the publicity. This case is stupid. Not much else to say.
Awesome.