ADAMS COUNTY, Ohio — A jury in Adams County has ruled in favor of rapper Afroman in a civil case brought by local sheriff’s deputies who accused him of using their likenesses without permission.
Before reading the verdict, the judge commended both sides, saying, “It’s been an emotional case, it’s been a well-tried case.”
Joseph Foreman — better known by his stage name, Afroman — was sued by deputies who executed a 2022 search warrant at his home. The lawsuit claimed he used footage from his home surveillance cameras, which captured the raid, in several music videos and social media posts viewed hundreds of thousands of times. The deputies argued the videos damaged their reputations and hindered their work in law enforcement.
Afroman’s attorney, David Osborne Jr., countered that his client’s actions were protected under the First Amendment. He said the videos amounted to social commentary and satire — not factual claims.
“It is a social commentary on the fact that they didn’t do things correctly,” Osborne said in court. “They’re public officials. They’re going to be held to a higher standard. Their work’s going to be criticized.”
Pointing to his client’s clothing — an American flag suit and matching sunglasses — Osborne added: “Does this look like a man who thinks that everybody’s going to assume that everything he’s saying is fact?”
During the trial, the deputies’ attorney, Bob Klingler, told jurors that Foreman spread falsehoods online, causing “pain and suffering” over several years. He urged the jury to award damages and restrict Foreman from using the deputies’ images in future commercial work.
Foreman took the stand this week, defending his use of the footage and blaming the raid itself for the controversy. The rapper said deputies broke down his door, damaged his property, and failed to return all his money — claiming $400 was missing when cash was returned after the search.
“All of this is their fault,” Foreman testified. “If they hadn’t wrongly raided my house, there would be no lawsuit, I would not know their names, they wouldn’t be on my home surveillance system, and there would be no songs.”
Deputies testified that Foreman’s videos and posts led to “humiliation, ridicule, mental distress, embarrassment, and loss of reputation.” Some footage shown in court depicted Afroman mocking deputies by name and using actors to portray them.
The 2022 search at Foreman’s home stemmed from a drug trafficking and kidnapping investigation, though he was never charged.