Rapper Afroman wins lawsuit against police over mocking their 2022 raid
in viral music videos
[March 19, 2026]
By MARYCLAIRE DALE
The Grammy-nominated rapper Afroman won a defamation lawsuit filed by
seven Ohio sheriff’s deputies who sued him over music videos in which he
used home security footage to mock their raid of his home.
“We did it, America! Yeah, we did it! Freedom of speech! Right on! Right
on!” the 51-year-old rapper, born Joseph Foreman, shouted outside the
courthouse after the Wednesday evening verdict. He later posted the clip
to social media.
The case tested the limits of parody and the license artists can take in
social commentary directed at public figures. The deputies,
collectively, sought nearly $4 million in damages.
“No reasonable person would expect a police officer not to be
criticized. They've been called names before,” defense lawyer David
Osborne said in closing arguments for the rapper and comedian, known for
his breakout 2000 hit, “Because I Got High."
The Adams County deputies said they were publicly harassed over the
viral videos, which were viewed more than 3 million times on YouTube.
The videos show rifle-wielding deputies busting down Afroman's door,
searching his shoes and suit pockets, and hungrily eyeing a cake on the
kitchen table, inspiring one song’s title, “Lemon Pound Cake.”
In other music videos, Afroman took aim at the deputies' personal lives
and called them “crooked cops" because of $400 that went missing in the
raid.
“Police officers shouldn’t be stealing civilians’ money,” the rapper
testified this week. “This whole thing is an outrage.”
In court — wearing a red, white and blue American flag suit — he
defended his work on First Amendment grounds and said he issued the diss
tracks to cover damages from the raid, including a broken gate and front
door.
No charges were filed over the 2022 raid, which the warrant said was
part of a drug and kidnapping investigation. In his testimony, he said
he had the right to tell his friends and fans what police had done. He
said the raid traumatized his children, then 10 and 12.
“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,” Foreman said. “They wouldn’t be on my home
surveillance system, and there would be no songs, nothing."
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Afroman, whose real name is Joseph Foreman, poses for a portrait in
New York, Aug. 22, 2001. (AP Photo/Shawn Baldwin, File)
 The lyrics of “Will You Help Me
Repair My Door?” address the police directly: “Did you find what you
were looking for/ Would you like a slice of lemon pound cake/ You
can take as much as you want to take/ There must be a big mistake."
The video slows down, showing an officer holding a gun next to a
cake stand in Afroman's kitchen.
Then he raps: “The warrant said, ‘Narcotics and kidnapping’/ Are you
kidding? I make my money rapping," and “You crooked cops need to
stop it/ There are no kidnapping victims in my suit pockets,” as a
video shows the officers searching his closet.
The deputies, in their testimony, said the songs ridiculed them.
Deputy Lisa Phillips said the rapper created a “derogatory" music
video that questioned her gender and sexuality.
Sgt. Randy Walters said his child had been hazed at school over
Afroman’s posts and came home crying.
“Where in the world is it OK to make something up for fun that’s
damaging to others when you know for sure it’s an absolute lie?” he
asked.
Afroman's lawyer, in closing arguments, said it was not unusual for
artists engaged in social commentary to exaggerate. Robert Klingler,
representing the deputies, said Afroman lied about “these seven
brave deputy sheriffs” for the past three years.
“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 argued.
Afroman lives in Winchester, about 50 miles (80 km) outside of
Cincinnati.
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