Prolific rapper Afroman, real name Joseph Foreman, is being sued by Ohio police for $25,000. In August 2022, police raided Foreman’s home in Adams County, supposedly on suspicion of kidnapping and drug trafficking. Seven officers are trying to sue him over the use of footage taken by Foreman’s home security cameras in Afroman’s music videos “Lemon Pound Cake” and “Will You Help Me Repair My Door.”
The officers are claiming four counts of emotional distress, embarrassment, ridicule, and loss of reputation. The suit would also restrict Afroman from continuing to use footage of the raid in future videos.
Officers seem to be trying to bank off the rapper’s fame, claiming THEY should be receiving profits from the use of their images. And not just from the music videos, but from concert tickets, songs, and promotion of Afroman’s merch brand. So already this lawsuit has gone from “emotional distress” to downright greed. This isn’t about “ruined reputations”, it’s about trying to humiliate someone who’s pointing at the embarrassing thing you did.
Incompetence, Thy Name Is Ohio PD
But Foreman is hitting back with a lawsuit of his own. On the grounds the raid was completely unfounded. They damaged his property, frightened his family, took items from his home and roughly $5,000 in cash. “They come up here with AR-15, traumatize my kids, destroyed my property, kick in my door, rip up and destroy my camera system.” The footage used in the music videos show just how careless the officers are with Foreman’s property. So Foreman bit back by displaying their incompetence in music videos and songs written about the raid.
Officers clearly broke the driveway gate, and kicked down Foreman’s door. Shots in the music video “Lemon Pound Cake” show a portly officer eyeing a cake under a glass dome in the kitchen as they raid his property. The footage used make the officers look like children searching for Easter eggs. Searching Foreman’s clothes, CD-cases, and caught on camera disconnecting his security cameras and taking money they find. All the while, the officers’ guns are raised, treating the home as a criminal environment and not a house they’ve just broken into on completely spurious charges. Reconvening outside, one officer — wearing army fatigues — gives a visible shrug that they came up empty.
Foreman’s attorney Anna Castellini is waiting on results from a public records request for Adam’s County, and are fully prepared to counter sue “for the unlawful raid, money being stolen, and for the undeniable damage this had on [Afroman’s] family, career and property.”
