Afroman Testifies That Unflattering Videos Of Sheriff's Deputies Were 'their Fault' After Imperfect Raid

Afroman testified Tuesday successful a civilian suit brought by 7 members of an Ohio sheriff’s agency who allege he utilized their likenesses without support successful euphony videos and connected merchandise and dispersed lies astir them aft they raided his location successful August 2022.

The fault, the “Because I Got High” rapper maintained, was not his. On Wednesday, nan assemblage was deliberating nan case.

The 51-year-old, whose existent sanction is Joseph Edgar Foreman, said connected nan guidelines Tuesday that he was successful nan right, according to section position WCPO Channel 9 successful Cincinnati.

“The full ambush was a mistake. All of this is their fault,” Foreman testified, taking nan guidelines wearing sunglasses pinch American emblem lenses and a red, achromatic and bluish suit and matching necktie made of cloth recalling nan American flag. “If they hadn’t wrongly raided my house, location would beryllium nary lawsuit, I would not cognize their names, they wouldn’t beryllium connected my location surveillance system, and location would beryllium nary songs, nothing.”

Officers were acting successful 2022 connected a warrant showing probable origin that narcotics and supplier paraphernalia would beryllium recovered connected nan property. The warrant besides alleged that trafficking and kidnapping had happened there. No grounds of a crime was found, and nary charges were filed. Foreman wasn’t location during nan ambush but was capable to spot astatine slightest portion of it via a video recorded by his ex-wife and footage captured connected his location information strategy earlier rule enforcement turned disconnected those cameras.

It was that footage that was utilized successful nan various videos nan rapper subsequently posted, including a euphony video for nan opus “Lemon Pound Cake,” which he wrote astir nan raid.

Officers tore down his door, he said, and damaged his house, taking money, vape pens and a mini magnitude of marijuana. There was a discrepancy astir nan magnitude of money taken and returned to nan rapper, which seemed to beryllium a constituent of contention linked to whether he was misrepresenting what nan deputies did during nan raid.

“After they left, I had nan correct to footwear nan tin and to do what I had to do to repair nan harm they brought to my house. Yes, I did,” Foreman said. “I person state of speech. I’m a rapper. I entertain.”

His grounds came connected nan 2nd time of nan trial, aft nan deputies took nan guidelines nan first time and testified that though nan ambush wasn’t perfect, Foreman had been spreading lies astir them for years since it occurred. Deputy Lisa Phillips, whose gender personality had been called into mobility successful Foreman’s videos and societal media posts, cried connected nan stand arsenic immoderate of those videos were played for nan court.

Footage pinch a opus called “Licc’em Low Lisa” showed Foreman saying he thought he would “crack immoderate philharmonic jokes” successful nan aftermath of nan raid, past going to comfortableness a crying character who resembled Phillips. “I didn’t cognize they wounded you that bad. ... I was conscionable having nosy pinch a bad situation.” The aforesaid video showed nan character engaging successful intersexual activity pinch different woman.

In their lawsuit, WCPO said, nan deputies said nan posts and videos caused them “humiliation, ridicule, intelligence distress, embarrassment and nonaccomplishment of reputation” and made it difficult to do their rule enforcement work.

In an amicus brief, however, nan ACLU based on that nan deputies’ suit was a “classic introduction into nan SLAPP suit genre,” referring to a type of suit that seeks to discourage disapproval of nationalist officials.