GoKawiilOn Wednesday, Afroman won a widely watched defamation lawsuit that seven cops filed after the rapper made music videos mocking them for conducting a 2022 raid of his home that resulted in no charges and no marijuana found.
Videos for songs like “Lemon Pound Cake,” “Why You Disconnecting My Video Camera,” and “Will You Help Me Repair My Door” used real footage from the raid, pulling from security camera footage and videos shot by Afroman’s wife. Cops from the Adams County Sheriff’s Office alleged they were humiliated and received death threats after the videos went viral.
Accusing Afroman of defamation, cops individually sought damages as high as $1.5 million. But Afroman’s lawyer, David Osborne, argued this was a clear-cut First Amendment case. At trial, Afroman testified that cops had no one to blame for the reputational damage but themselves, arguing that “if they hadn’t wrongly raided my house, there would be no lawsuit,” The New York Times reported.
“They broke into my house, put themselves onto my video cameras, and into my music career,” Afroman testified, according to Ohio-based Local 12, a news outlet sharing footage from the trial. “With my freedom of speech, I had the right to talk about events going on in my life.”
Tears streamed down Afroman’s face when the jury sided with him on all claims after deliberating for just a few hours, Local 12’s footage showed.
“I’m just happy,” Afroman said. At trial, he argued that he’d been a “sport” in turning the raid into entertainment—simply striving to cover costs of damage from the raid. He said he was appalled by the cops’ attack on his free speech, arguing, “I don’t go to their house, kick down their doors, flip them off on their surveillance cameras, then try to play the victim and sue them.”
An attorney for officers suing, Bob Klinger, could not immediately be reached for comment. But at the trial, he tried and failed to argue that through the music videos and social media posts, Afroman “perpetuated lies intentionally, repeatedly, over three and a half years on the Internet about these seven brave deputy sheriffs,” a Cincinnati-based ABC affiliate reported.