An Ohio jury on Wednesday sided with rapper Afroman in a lawsuit brought by sheriff's deputies, who claimed the artist was wrong to mock them in music videos after they had raided his home in a fruitless search for drugs.
It took less than a day for the panel in Adams County Common Pleas Court to find Afroman not liable on any of 13 claims made against him by several deputies.
“In all circumstances, the jury finds in favor of the defendant," Judge Jonathan Hein announced. "No plaintiff verdict prevailed. So, the matter will be concluded with defense verdicts.”
The defiant rapper testified Tuesday and said that he exercised free speech when he released music videos featuring images of Ohio deputies raiding his home, saying any suffering they claimed in their lawsuit was due to “their mistake.”
The deputies filed the civil lawsuit against Afroman in 2023, accusing him of defamation and invasion of privacy and saying they were needlessly harmed by music videos, most notably "Lemon Pound Cake," which included security camera footage taken in 2022, when they served a search warrant looking for drugs and evidence of a kidnapping at the performer's home.
None were found and charges were never filed against the "Because I Got High" rapper, who was born Joseph Foreman.
The performer posted a celebratory message on Instagram Wednesday that showed him shouting, "We did it America! Yah, we did it, freedom of speech! Right on!"
Wearing an American flag-patterned suit, Afroman said during testimony Tuesday that his actions were protected under the First Amendment.
"I got freedom of speech," he told jurors. "After they run around my house with guns, kicked down my door, I got the right to kick a can in my backyard, use my freedom of speech, turn my bad times into a good time."
He continued: "Yes I do, and I think I'm a sport for doing so because 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."
The rapper said any hardships suffered by the deputies should be pinned on law enforcement.
"[This is all] their fault for coming in my house in the first place," the 51-year-old artist testified.
"So if they hadn't come in my house, their children wouldn't be saying nothing. None of this would be going on if they had did their research and did things right," he said. "So all of this is their fault, and now they want to sue me for their mistake."
Asked if there's anything that could "change your mind" about his creative actions, an indignant Afroman put it all back on law enforcement.
"Is there anything that can change my mind about the fact that they shouldn't have been at my house in the first place?" Afroman replied.
"Is there anything that can change my mind about how my money shouldn't have been touched in the first place? No," he said.
The title of song and video at the center of the lawsuit made light of one deputy who came through the busted door and seemed to take particular interest in a lemon loaf sitting under a cake glass in Afroman's kitchen.
"The Adams County Sheriff kicked down my door," according to Afroman’s song.
"Then I heard the glass break," the song continues. "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."
The "Lemon Pound Cake" video has been viewed more than 3.1 million times on YouTube.
In the song "Randy Walters is a Son of a Bitch," the singer's lyrics imply an extramarital affair between the defendant and the wife of plaintiff Sgt. Randy Walters.
"When my daughter came home and advised me that she was getting messed with at school because apparently her mom is having sex with Afroman," Walters told jurors.
"It's horrible," Walters continued. "It's hard when your job that you're doing affects your family, which affects you."
