Rapper Afroman, born Joseph Foreman, just saw a defamation lawsuit filed against him by the Adams County Sheriff’s Department of Ohio dismissed. Back in October 2022, while on tour, Foreman’s home was raided on suspicion of drug trafficking and kidnapping. There was no evidence, and therefore no charges were ever filed. However, this was not before the cops caused tens of thousands of dollars in damage, seized money, which was alleged they had not returned in full, and cut his security cameras.
Even with the security cameras cut, Afroman was still able to get valuable footage and turned his pigs into porkrinds. In an act of gleeful retaliation, and the writer of the 2001 Grammy-nominated song, “Because I Got High,” did what he does best, and took a very unromantic scenario and affixed it to an easily memorable, monotonously catchy hook. Afroman took his beef with the Adams County Sherrif’s Department into the studio, making several songs about individual officers involved in the raiding of his home and uploaded songs to his YouTube about the encounter, the songs subsequently going viral. Some of the songs were more closely based on the actual events that occurred during the raid, and others, a bit more on the histrionic side.
As frivolous as the suit seemed to be, the lawsuit, not the one Afroman was wearing, well, that one, too, Afroman and his lawyer seemed to embarrass the Adam County’s Sherriff’s Department even more than the videos. Their courtroom quips were not just entertaining, but really served to make the entire department look pathetic. Additionally, it’s a curious thing to see those whose bravery is so keenly equipped to take a bullet but still unable to take a joke.
Seven of the county’s officers filed suits for invasion of privacy and defamation, with the invasion-of-privacy suit thrown out early on. The album titled “Lemon Pound Cake” refers to one of the officers, whom he dubbed Officer Poundcake, because during the raid the officer stopped to ogle the lemon poundcake on the counter, which was made by Foreman’s mother.
In the compilation of songs, Foreman compares one police officer to Quasimodo, refers to another’s receding hairline, likens one to the cartoon character Beetle Bailey, and calls one Licc-em Low Lisa. The latter resulted in one of the plaintiffs, Lisa Phillips, visibly upset on the stand; her face was extremely red, and there was the intention of tears, with very little lacrimal production. Many of the officers alleged that the videos, which have since gone even more viral since the suit was filed, caused them pain and suffering. Officer Sean Grooms even alleged that it caused the dissolution of his marriage, which his ex-wife testified was untrue, and that there were other more nefarious reasons for the divorce. Grooms’ ex-wife testified that she was granted a restraining order against him post-divorce, while Foreman claims that it was also because Grooms was having sexual relations with drug addicts while on duty, and using his authority to do so.
While the win for Afroman could easily be seen as a win for the little guy, it is hard not to notice that a Trump supporter who eagerly stood at attention for the Republican Party is now at odds with the loudness of law-and-order copaganada that same party unwaveringly supports. No matter how many civil liberties are infringed upon, MAGA supporters always seem to find a way to justify the cruelty and are shocked when they are on the receiving end of it. During the courtroom proceedings, Afroman donned a suit adorned with tiny American flags, while blaming the officers for what he alleges was a false raid. It is the same suit he in videos about the officers and the same suit he wore in a photo opp with President Trump.
After his win, via Instagram, Afroman posted a reel where he is seen gleefully screaming about freedom of speech, “we did it America, we did it,” it is hard to ignore his support for a party that only seems to protect it when it comes to spreading hate.
There is absolute genius in taking something so traumatic and profiting from it, but it is hard to ignore the optics of the same side of the coin Afroman supported is the same side that flipped on him.
