🤖 AI Summary
アフロマンは2022年に自宅を突入したオハイオ州の7人の警察官から名誉毀損訴訟を勝ち抜いた。アフロマンは2022年8月、アダムス郡 sheriff の部隊による自宅捜索後、自宅安全カメラからの映像を使用して作成した批判的なラップビデオをアップロードしていた。
捜査では薬物密売や人質事件の証拠が見つからず、公職者たちは突入に関連する破損に対する補償を要求し、アフロマンはこれらのビデオで警察を批判した。訴訟ではプライバシ侵害、権利使用、個人画像無断使用を含む主張が提起された。
ACLUはアフロマンの弁護を支援し、この訴訟は批评批判を封じるためだけのSLAPP訴訟であると主張した。法廷は2023年10月に、プライバシ侵害や権利使用の主張を棄却し、名誉毀損のみが訴えられることとなった。
警察官たちはアフロマンがランダップ・ワルツジュニアの妻と頻繁に性的関係を持っていたという主張もした。しかし、この主張は事実でないことが判明し、侮辱は真偽に関わらず、名誉毀損を成立させるためには誤った声明から発生する害が必要であることを強調した。
アフロマンは言論の自由が侵害され、公的職員を批判することが許される権利があると主張していた。最終的に法廷は被告の主張を受け入れ、名誉毀損のみが訴えられた事実を受け入れた。
Longtime Slashdot reader UnknowingFool writes: Rapper Afroman, born Joseph Edgar Foreman, famous for his 2000 hit "Because I Got High", has won a defamation lawsuit that seven Ohio police offers filed against him. A jury found he did not defame the officers in music videos he made about a 2022 police raid of his home. In August 2022, Adams County Sheriff's Department raided Afroman's home on suspicion of drug trafficking and kidnapping. Neither drugs nor kidnapping victims were found, and charges were never filed. However, local officials would not pay for damages occurred during the raid including a broken front door and a video surveillance camera. Afroman used his home security footage of the raid to create music rap videos criticizing the police over the incident; "Will You Help Me Repair My Door?", "Why You Disconnecting My Video Camera?", and "Lemon Pound Cake". He posted the videos on YouTube.
In March 2023, seven officers filed a lawsuit against Afroman for invasion of privacy and the unauthorized use of their images from the security footage in addition to defamation claims. The officers requested an injunction for Afroman to stop speaking about them or using their photos. The officers also wanted all proceeds from the videos, song sales, performances, and merchandise claiming they had suffered "emotional distress" due to the videos. Afroman's defense included Freedom of Speech rights to criticize public officials. The ACLU filed an amicus brief supporting the rapper, arguing that the lawsuit was a SLAPP suit only meant to silence criticism. In October 2023, the court agreed and dismissed the invasion of privacy, "right of publicity", and "unauthorized use of individual's persona" claims but allowed the defamation case to proceed.
Defamation claims by the officers included the allegation Afroman repeatedly had sex with the wife of Randolph L. Walters, Jr. When Afroman's lawyer asked Walters "But we all know that's not true, right?", the officer replied he did not know. Defamation from emotional damages requires that harm arise from a false statement; however, if a statement is so outrageous that no one would believe it to be true, then reputational damage cannot be a result.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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