Afroman won a jury verdict Wednesday (March 18) clearing him of wrongdoing in a lawsuit filed by seven Ohio police officers, who claimed the rapper defamed them by releasing music videos that mocked them after a failed raid on his home.
The verdict came in an unusual lawsuit filed by members of an Ohio county sheriff’s department over songs and social media posts by Afroman (Joseph Foreman) that harshly criticized the guns-drawn 2022 raid on his property, which yielded no charges.
The case claimed the videos were false and caused the officers severe emotional distress. But Afroman, known for his 2000 hit “Because I Got High,” testified at trial that he had a First Amendment right to mock the officers, particularly after they smashed down his door for ultimately no reason: “All of this is their fault, and they have the audacity to sue me.”
After just hours of deliberation on Wednesday, the jury sided entirely with Afroman, clearing him of liability for defamation or invasion of privacy: “In all circumstances, the jury finds in favor of the defendant,” Judge Jonathan Hein said, speaking to the rapper, the accusers, and their lawyers. Afroman briefly bowed his head, but otherwise showed no emotion after the verdict was read.
The verdict ended a three-day trial that captivated social media with outlandish moments from the courtroom, including Afroman mounting a colorful defense from the witness stand in a flamboyant American flag suit; one of the deputies crying repeatedly as a video insulting her played for more than 10 minutes; and a testy exchange in which Afroman’s lawyer asked another deputy if his wife was cheating on him.
The outcome is a major win for Afroman, who could have faced a whopping $3.9 million damages award if he’d lost. Attorneys for both sides did not immediately return requests for comment on Wednesday.
In August 2022, the Adams County Sheriff’s Department raided Afroman’s home with guns drawn, smashing down his door and seizing $5,031 in cash and other property. They had a search warrant on suspicions of drug trafficking and kidnapping, but no wrongdoing was uncovered, no charges were ever filed and the money was later returned.
After the search, Afroman used his own surveillance camera footage to create music videos and other social posts mocking the officers. In a video for a song called “Lemon Pound Cake,” he ridiculed one deputy for apparently eying a cake on his counter. In another social media post, he included images of officer Lisa Phillips alongside graphic statements about her anatomy and sexuality.
In 2023, Phillips and six others (Shawn D. Cooley, Justin Cooley, Michael D. Estep, Shawn S. Grooms, Brian Newland and Randolph L. Walters, Jr.) filed a civil lawsuit claiming they’d suffered “emotional distress” and been “subjected to threats, including death threats” because of Afroman’s posts.
At trial in Adams County this week, Afroman told jurors from the witness stand that he had a constitutional right to make such artistic and critical content, particularly about government officials. That argument echoed what the American Civil Liberties Union wrote in 2023, when it call the lawsuit against Afroman “nothing short of absurd.”
“I got freedom of speech. After they run around my house with guns and kick down my door, I got the right to kick a can in my back yard, use my freedom of speech, and turn my bad times into a good time, yes I do,” he told jurors on Tuesday. “And I think I’m a sport for doing so, because I don’t go to their house, kick down their doors [and] then try to play the victim and sue them.”
In another flashy moment on the stand, Afroman explained to jurors why he had later invited a local television news crew to accompany him to the sheriff’s station to get his money back – not because he wanted publicity, but because he feared for his safety.
“I didn’t wanna get beat up or Epstein’d at the sheriff’s station after I seen them running around my house with AR15s,” the rapper said, referring to persistent internet rumors that infamous sexual abuser Jeffrey Epstein’s prison suicide was staged and he was actually murdered. “That’s why I brought the news and my attorney.”
The Adams County deputies themselves also took the stand, including Shawn D. Cooley, the officer Afroman referred to as “Officer Poundcake,” who watched that music video in the courtroom. When Phillips got on the stand, she wept as a long video played in which Afroman labeled her “Licc’em Low Lisa” and crudely suggested that she was lesbian.
During one heated exchange, Randolph L. Walters, Jr. testified about a video in which Afroman repeatedly says that he had sex with the officer’s wife. Walters said listeners had understood that statement as factual and that it had caused him “tremendous pain.”
“But we all know that’s not true, right?” fired back David Osborne, the rapper’s lawyer, to which Walters that he didn’t know. “You don’t know if your wife’s cheating on you or not?” Osborne then asked, prompting Walters to angrily glare back and ask, “You wanna go there?”
“No I just wanna ask that question since you said we don’t know,” said Osborne, seemingly trying to suggest to jurors that the statement couldn’t be proven true or false, a key requirement of a defamation claim.
In their closing statements on Wednesday, attorneys for both sides clashed over the lofty free speech issues raised by Afroman’s defense. Robert Klingler, the lawyer for the officers, told the jury that Afroman had “perpetuated lies intentionally” for years about public servants who had “risked their lives for this county for years” – and that his framing of the case as a First Amendment battle was “legally wrong.”
“Mr. Foreman doesn’t get to wrap himself in the American flag and say you can’t touch me, I can say what I want, no matter how untrue it is, no matter how much pain it causes people, because I have freedom of speech,” Klingler said. “He can’t do that.”
Osborne quickly fired back that he can, in fact, do that. In a closing statement that cited NWA’s “Fuck Tha Police” and Richard Prior’s comedy acts, Osborne told jurors that powerful public officials cannot use the courts to “silence” criticism simply because it hurt their feelings.
“I’m sorry they feel the way they do, but there’s a certain amount that you have to take as a public official, it’s part of the duties of the job,” Osborne said. “What chilling effect does that have on the world we live in? You don’t like what a public official does and you make a joke, and you’re dragged into court?”
