A protest rapper testified Tuesday that he exercised free speech when he released a music video featuring images of Ohio deputies raiding his home, saying any pain he claims in a lawsuit over the video is “his fault.”
Several Adams County sheriff’s deputies are suing Afromon, claiming they were unnecessarily harmed by his music video for “Lemon Pound Cake,” which includes security camera footage taken in 2022 when he served a search warrant for drugs at the performer’s home.
None were found and charges were never filed against the “Because I Got High” rapper, born Joseph Foreman.
Afroman took the witness stand wearing an American flag-patterned suit and said his actions were protected under the First Amendment.
“I got free speech,” he told the judge. “After they run around my house with guns, I have the right to kick in my door, kick the can in my backyard, exercise my freedom of speech, turn my bad times into good times.”
“Yes I do, and I think I’m a sport for doing that because I don’t go to their house, kick in their doors, turn them in on their surveillance cameras, then try to play the victim and sue them,” he said.
The rapper said that any hardships that deputies experience should be pinned on law enforcement.
“(All this) is their fault for coming to my house in the first place,” the 51-year-old artist Sakshi said.
“So if they hadn’t come to my house, their kids wouldn’t have said anything. If they had done their research and work properly none of this would have happened. So this is all their fault, and now they want to sue me for their fault.”
Asked if there was anything about his creative actions that would “change your mind,” an angry Afroman put it all down to law enforcement.
“Is there anything to change my mind about the fact that they shouldn’t have been in my house in the first place?” Afromon said eloquently.
“Is there anything that will change my mind about how not to touch my money in the first place? No.”
The title of the song and video at the center of the lawsuit made light of a deputy who came through a busted door and took particular interest in a lemon loaf sitting under a cake glass in Afromon’s kitchen.
“The Adams County Sheriff kicked down my door,” Afromon sings.
“Then I heard glass break. They didn’t find the kidnappers. Some lemon pound cake. Mom’s lemon pound cake. It’s so delicious. It made the sheriff want to put down his gun. And cut him a slice.”
The “Lemon Pound Cake” video has been viewed more than 3.1 million times on YouTube.
