Rapper Afroman wins court battle after mocking police in viral songs
US rapper Afroman has cleared his name in court after being sued by seven sheriff's deputies for releasing songs and videos that mocked them.
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The artist used his music to mock officers who broke down his door in 2022 as part of a drug and kidnapping investigation.
Their raid did not lead to any charges and Afroman, best known for his 2000 hit Because I Got High, ridiculed the deputies involved in his music videos.
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His single Lemon Pound Cake was inspired by a deputy apparently eyeing a cake in his kitchen, while another video attributed personal and sexual transgressions to the officers.
The officers sued him for defamation and requested $3.9m (£2.9m) in damages, but a jury sided with the rapper after a three-day trial.
Following the verdict, Afroman went outside the Ohio court to yell to a group of his supporters: "We did it America! Yeah! We did it! Freedom of speech!"
He posted a clip of this moment onto his social media pages.
Wearing a red, white and blue US flag-themed suit, Afroman told the court: "The whole raid was a mistake. All of this is their fault.
"If they hadn't have 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, nothing."
The deputies sued for "humiliation, ridicule, mental distress, embarrassment and loss of reputation".
In one song, Afroman made graphic and unfounded suggestions about Deputy Lisa Phillips' sexuality.
Sgt Randy Walters said his child had been humiliated at school over Afroman's posts, and had come home afterwards in tears.
The rapper was accused of "perpetuating lies intentionally" about the deputies, by their lawyer Robert Klingler.
"Even if somebody does something to you that hurts you, that you think is wrong - like a search warrant execution that you think is unfair - that doesn't justify telling intentional lies designed to hurt people," he said.
Afroman's 2023 album was also called Lemon Pound Cake, while the title song also took a jab at the officer who "got the munchies because he got high".
That song has 3.6 million views on YouTube, while another parody track titled Will You Help Me Repair My Door has had more than nine million.
Afroman told jurors he had a constitutional right to make artistic and critical content about government officials.
His lawyer David Osborne argued that public officials could not 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?"