Photo Credit: Afroman for ReasonTV (YouTube) / CC by 4.0
Afroman has filed a lawsuit against one of the Ohio sheriff’s deputies who raided his home in 2022 and sued him for defamation afterward.
Afroman has filed a malicious prosecution lawsuit against one of the Ohio sheriff’s deputies who raided his property in 2022. The deputy also subsequently sued the “Because I Got High” artist for defamation after he showed footage of the raid on social media and in his music videos.
According to his lawsuit, filed on Monday in Adams County Common Pleas Court, Afroman (whose legal name is Joseph Foreman) claimed that Sgt. Brian Newland’s filing of such a “frivolous” lawsuit caused him to incur attorney fees and suffer emotional distress.
The new lawsuit arrived about four months after a jury in the case brought by the deputies ruled in favor of Afroman, determining that the rapper didn’t defame them or portray them in a false light. The deputies were seeking a combined $3.9 million.
Afroman used his own security camera footage of the raid on his home to make music videos of the songs “Lemon Pound Cake” and “Will You Help Me Repair My Door,” both written about the incident. Notably, the raid stemmed from a tip asserting that there were illicit drugs in the home, but the investigation never led to any charges against him.
“The claims asserted by (Newland) against (Afroman) in the prior lawsuit were not warranted under existing law and could not be supported by a good argument for the extension, modification, or reversal of existing law,” noted the rapper’s lawsuit.
The deputies filed their original claims in 2023, arguing that the musician targeted them through social media posts and videos that harmed their reputations by making lewd allegations. Afroman’s posting has continued since the raid and even after the trial, with his attorney arguing in court that any “reasonable” person would not consider his remarks about the officers as fact.
Since the trial, Afroman has capitalized on the matter with his Freedom of Speech Tour. Now, to celebrate his birthday, he’s “suing the police officer who stole my $400, then had the audacity to sue me,” according to his recent social media post about his lawsuit.
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