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Police sue rapper Afroman for using footage of home raid in his music videos
- tracker1 4y agoSorry, you go into someone's home as a public official, you should have ZERO expectation of privacy. Warrent, raid, SWAT, whoever, however, whatever, whenever. You don't want your face shown, stay masked up.
- ajdjakgnelcn 4y ago[dead]
- jjbinx007 4y agoIt's worth watching the original video, it shows the officers damaging his property, eating his cake and doing various other questionable things https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oponIfu5L3Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oponIfu5L3Y
- fathyb 4y agoOutrageous behaviour, yet normal. What a great song though, I'd like to see the jury's faces while they're listening to it.
- OJFord 4y agoWhy is there a guy in camouflage? I would assume he's in the military, but is that just normal for a US police raid, there's some uniform, some plain clothes, some inexplicable camouflage? (Not to mention some riot gear, some automatic rifles..!)
- x86_64Ubuntu 4y ago>... but is that just normal for a US police raid Yes, very much so. They don't even have to be on a raid, they can just be on patrol. After the Global War On Terror started, many police departments routinely cosplay as military.
- heavyset_go 4y agoRaids are an excuse for bored cops to dress up and play with their toys.
- moonka 4y ago>Law enforcement officers were acting on a warrant that stated probable cause existed that drugs and drug paraphernalia would be found on Foreman’s property and that trafficking and kidnapping had taken place there, authorities have said. Those suspicions turned out to be unfounded, though, and the raid failed to turn up probative criminal evidence. No charges were ever filed. >When cash seized during the raid was returned to Foreman, it appeared that hundreds of dollars were missing. A subsequent review by the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation determined that deputies had miscounted the amount seized during the raid itself. It's disappointing that the AP doesn't even mention any of that, just a mention that some money was miscounted.
- alwayslikethis 4y agoThis is getting ridiculous. In a free country, the people should be able to hold the police accountable. If police officers did their jobs properly, having a video posted should not cause any distress.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- JPws_Prntr_Fngr 4y ago> This is getting ridiculous. In a free country ... Yes, well ...
- duxup 4y agoThe cops are also free to make their legal complaint… we will see what happens next.
- ryan_lane 4y agoThis is a one-way system, and their legal complaint is to shut down the only avenue this person has to get any form of justice. If the police want to be able to sue us, then we should be able to sue them.
- duxup 4y ago> the only avenue this person has to get any form of justice I think he could just post his videos and be more in the clear, the claim is he is using their images for commercial activities. I don’t agree with the cops but this is absolutely not his only route. Also we don’t yet know the outcome yet.
- alwayslikethis 4y agoI don't think government officials should have the right to their personal image during performance of their jobs at all. Like, you should be able to make a YTP with Biden videos for profit.
- oaththrowaway 4y agoThe lack of self awareness by the officers is actually pretty impressive
- irrational 4y agoSupposedly they weed out intelligent people from police applications, so…
- libraryatnight 4y agohttps://abcnews.go.com/US/court-oks-barring-high-iqs-cops/story?id=95836 https://abcnews.go.com/US/court-oks-barring-high-iqs-cops/st... My favorite bit is where they're worried smart people will get bored and leave XD
- millzlane 4y agoI'd like to think they're smart enough to recognize if they hire smart people that they'd be out of a job.
- Clubber 4y ago"Most Cops Just Above Normal The average score nationally for police officers is 21 to 22, the equivalent of an IQ of 104, or just a little above average." This is a pretty startling statement for armed people who are supposed to understand and interpret the law, detect abnormalities accurately while not terrorizing the law abiding general public. Here's a breakdown of appropriate jobs by IQ. Keep in mind the 100-104. This might be part of the problem. https://www.schooldrillers.com/the-iq-level-you-need-for-different-jobs/ https://www.schooldrillers.com/the-iq-level-you-need-for-dif...
- shawnz 4y agoSee the original video, it's very entertaining: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oponIfu5L3Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oponIfu5L3Y
- libraryatnight 4y agoI was watching this earlier because of Reddit, and I was laughing but it didn't take long for it to also feel sad and creepy. It's so blatant.
- cookie_monsta 4y agoI wanted that cop to take a slice of lemon pound cake so bad it hurt.
- htag 4y agoHe wanted to take a slice of lemon pound cake so bad it hurt too.
- moogly 4y agoHah, sounds like a Frank Zappa song. He's really channeling Ike Willis there.
- explaininjs 4y agoThe article doesn't mention how the police disconnected his security cameras and stole $400 (which they later returned). Also, it seems to fail to link to the source video itself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oponIfu5L3Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oponIfu5L3Y https://www.complex.com/music/afroman-sued-by-ohio-sheriffs-deputies-who-raided-his-home-say-hes-using-them-to-sell-merch https://www.complex.com/music/afroman-sued-by-ohio-sheriffs-...
- cjohnson318 4y agoI thought it was legal to film police?
- culi 4y agoEspecially in your own house... The funny thing is this is basically the exact same story for J. Cole's "Neighbors" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nfVWiXY3WY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nfVWiXY3WY Basically he moved to a new bougie neighborhood and the neighbors called the cops on him accusing him of "selling dope" (the primary hook of the 1 minute song). So he took his security footage and made a music video out of it You can see the SWAT team members casually talking to the neighbors peeking over the fence too lol
- irrational 4y ago> bougie Is this a misspelling (perhaps purposefully?) of “bourgeoisie”?
- steele 4y agoI hope the trial includes the footage of LEOs stealing his cash.
- bitwize 4y agoI hope that Afroman's attorney, when cross-examining the cops, sings the song.
- pengaru 4y ago> suing for invasion of privacy and emotional distress
- MonkeyMalarky 4y agoInvasion of privacy? After entering someone else's private property without their consent? Surely they will be laughed out of court!
- Waterluvian 4y agoOne of the more equalizing things about bullies, especially the adult variety, is they’re often non-thinking and inevitably hoist themselves by their own petard. Maybe this parallel is obvious, but being the aggressor and seeing yourself as the victim is completely characteristic of some popular political groups and a certain warfaring dictator. They always seem to destroy themselves given enough time.
- JackFr 4y agoIn general that’s not a great heuristic to go by. In college, when I came across a bully who was much, much smarter than me it was terrifying. The lesson was avoid at all costs.
- trizuz 4y ago[dead]
- throwawaylinux 4y agoIt's extremely popular these days to view oneself as victim. Boast about it even. It is rooted in narcissism to be sure (which is probably where a lot of bullying is rooted in too).
- pessimizer 4y agoIt's simply exploiting the desire that people have to protect the vulnerable; extremely social people are competing to be the "underdog." People who say they are being victimized by other people's claims of victimhood are a subset of that same group.
- travisjungroth 4y agoI'd guess it's that everyone is often non-thinking. I'm not sure if there's a correlation between intelligence and kindness and which way it would go. But the thing is you get more free passes when you're kind. If it was all his friends throwing him a surprise party and forgetting of course he'd notice on his cameras, it would just be funny.
- dmix 4y agoThe benefits of having lawyers paid for by the union I guess. Their protection from consequences (or rather the inverse where you benefit from not being a good worker if you play your cards right) continue to be disconnected from the average person's job. Even when factoring in the unique circumstances of their job most of the worst stuff (and worst messaging) happens via this arena, even when in practice they don't always get taken as seriously by their superiors/judicial system as the police union reps take themselves.
- yellow_lead 4y agoNot a lawyer obviously but this is a home surveillance recording. You would think one would maintain the commercial rights to that.
- runlevel1 4y agoI really want to know what their legal theory is, because the usage of their likeness seems pretty clearly allowed under Ohio law: http://www.dmlp.org/legal-guide/ohio-right-publicity-law#:~:text=LIMITATIONS%20AND%20DEFENSES,of%20public%20interest http://www.dmlp.org/legal-guide/ohio-right-publicity-law#:~:....
- yellow_lead 4y agoMaybe the "hope the other person settles" approach. But that tends to work better when there's a financial imbalance.
- fsckboy 4y agoyou linked to an entire page of a detailed law, which at a glance protects rights of publicity, not "gives them away". I'm not saying you're wrong, but what clauses do you think allows usage of their likenesses in this context? "The statute requires that any consent to use an individual's right of publicity for a commercial purpose be made in writing, which includes written, electronic, digital or any other verifiable means of authorization."
- runlevel1 4y agoIn Chrome that link goes to the "Limitations and Defenses" section -- I forgot that other browsers need the Link to Text Fragment extension for that to work. Here's the key part of Ohio law it references: https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-2741.09 https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-2741.09
- atum47 4y agoI knew that this would happen. I freaking knew it. Don't get me wrong, I love the music that came out of the incident, but as soon as I saw the videoclip for "why you disconnected my video camera" I thought to myself: he's gone get sued for exposing them like that.
- rendall 4y agoDoes the suit have legs?
- rendall 4y agoA lawyer reacts: https://youtu.be/VUWWZ0aeqdo https://youtu.be/VUWWZ0aeqdo
- bastard_op 4y agoThat's hilarious - the keystone cops suing him for "suffered humiliation, ridicule, mental distress, embarrassment, and loss of reputation." Gee, I wonder how one might have felt in that being the one raided, all to have the charges dropped. Exactly what is wrong with the US.
- Yajirobe 4y ago[flagged]
- NoZebra120vClip 4y agoI would say that Afroman was perhaps incautious to mix up videos of footage of police with their faces and insignia and whatnot. After all, Afroman's milieu is an industry that is perpetually in legal jeopardy for sampling, covering, and quoting other musical works. Then I thought about it for another hot minute, and realized that Afroman (and his legal counsel) may be just canny enough to take this all into account. Think of the optics of the cops suing this Black man trying to get at his honestly earned cash. Think of how that will play out in the public square. Who's a more sympathetic figure here, win or lose? There's no such thing as bad publicity! So I think Afroman may have counted on this whole lawsuit debacle and he's going to get enormous mileage and notoreity out of it. Kudos to him for this. I love these videos. This guy is da bomb. Hilarious.
- adgjlsfhk1 4y agoIt's pretty clearly fair use in the US.
- kevin_thibedeau 4y agoThe cops don't have a copyright claim. Fair use is irrelevant. Afroman owns a recording of factual events. He has the right to do with it as he pleases.
- throwaway290 4y ago
- imoverclocked 4y agoHaving your home invaded can’t ever be anything less than invasion of privacy and emotional distress. When it is by people who are meant to uphold peace, it has to be that much worse. At what point would we call the behavior of police blatant instead of the artists response as blatant?
- raisin_churn 4y agoI know there are issues with it, because small plaintiffs would mostly suffer it at the hands of extremely well-funded respondents, but I do wish there was some kind of automatic penalty for bringing such a outrageous suit. Like if the judge can´t stop laughing at you for being such an idiot, you get tarred and feathered in the courtroom and Afroman gets to use footage of that in a music video. Which I guess would be a particularly just punishment in this case.
- avs733 4y agoI think you are basically looking for anti slapp laws https://www.rcfp.org/anti-slapp-legal-guide/ https://www.rcfp.org/anti-slapp-legal-guide/
- loeg 4y agoAnti-SLAPP laws (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation). Ohio doesn't have one, as far as I can tell.
- LWIRVoltage 4y agoWouldn't this not be effective if it's an environment where it's a little bit more crooked? The fact lawyers on the police's side brought this lawsuit hints as to the possibility that there's more going on here and that they might win due to a favorable judge/etc The difficulty with situations like this is when you have judges and lawyers who go along with it, which is a possibility. This is of course not counting the extreme cost to escalate it to appeal- or further if that fails. Or the time spent and having to deal with the damage, etc in the meanwhile. Per a Guardian Article he is losing gig opportunities due to the kidnapping charge on the warrant, even though it was unfounded- as an example of the damage continuing despite being false. Others have mentioned how they took money from him(caught on camera), and didn't return it all ,and a independent news station was able to get them to recount it- but they still didn't return it all. And ,we don't know what they did once they started shutting off all his cameras they could find(his own video with the footage shows this)-
- LegitShady 4y agoif court footage exists it would likely be public domain and he could...but many judges dislike their courts being recorded, unfortunately.
- exabrial 4y agoOh boy this isn’t going to end well for the police
- WaxProlix 4y agoIt totally might. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQcST-jdl7U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQcST-jdl7U I don't want to be inflammatory but it's hard as hell to see this and not think "garbage country".
- jfengel 4y agoWhy wouldn't it? They're not public figures, and the law lets them sue over use of their likeness. And any misconduct is almost certainly covered by their immunity. They can almost certainly get the video taken down, and a good chance of monetary damages. And no consequences for anything else. Just because that's an obvious travesty doesn't mean it isn't the most likely outcome.
- HDThoreaun 4y agoYou can use likeness for political aims in ohio. But as far as consequences, there are more a person can face than legal. Yes, cops are covered by qualified immunity, but if the voters elect a new sheriff he can fire them all. Or the town can ostracize them. Or grafiti their house.
- gorbachev 4y agoPolice in the US routinely get away with all kinds of abuse and illegality. I wouldn't be surprised, if a friendly court decided for them.
- gonzo 4y ago“Rules for thee, but not for me.”
- SamoyedFurFluff 4y agoAre there any politicians or political organizations, local or otherwise, advocating for the curtailing of police overreach? Frivolous suits for harassment like this shouldn’t be allowed on the taxpayers dime…
- philosopher1234 4y agodefund the police is a movement with that goal, no?
- Clubber 4y agoYes but I believe they've been captured, at least the political arm of it. You don't hear much of a peep out of them lately and there have been countless shootings and beatings of unarmed and often innocent people.
- Clubber 4y agoYes, but they're like Scientology was in the 90s and 00s; unlimited funds, very strong union and political support and they investigate themselves with cult like omertà. It's gonna take a few decades of relentless scrutiny and political pressure to prosecute them before it gets any better. It seems like an entire generation of police are used to this type of corruption. You can gauge how deep and normalized the corruption is by how blatant some are about it. It's sad, because a lot of people join the police force because they want to do good for the community, and they're colleagues with people like this. The good people end up leaving or getting corrupted. "As one bad apple spoils the others, so you must show no quarter to sin or sinners." We've let this fester for decades. Also, this attitude and blatant disregard for citizens rights is at all levels of policing; local, state and federal. It's a cancer that has riddled the country.
- sc68cal 4y agoNo. Democrats run away from the accusations of being supporters of "defund the police" by Republicans, by increasing funding for the police. There is no major party in the United States advocating for police reform.
- Clubber 4y agoAttorney Steve Lehto covered it pretty well. He had a hard time not laughing, but to his point, any lawsuit has a chance of winning, and it will have a massive chilling effect if it does. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQcST-jdl7U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQcST-jdl7U I guess these guys aren't aware of the Streisand effect. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect
- Algemarin 4y agoWhat I don't understand and have been unable to find the answer to is that this warrant was granted based on accusations of drug trafficking and kidnapping--where is the justification for that? What was the probable cause which prompted the judge to grant a home search warrant for drug trafficking and kidnapping here? Why is there seemingly no accountability going on? Armed police broke into someone's home, looking for drug trafficking and kidnapping, and it seems that evidence of neither was found. Why were they allowed to do this by the signing judge?
- jfengel 4y agoThere's no accountability because there's no account to hold. The police have qualified immunity and the judge has absolute immunity. Unless you can prove that he knew he was doing the wrong thing with the intent to cause harm there is absolutely nothing to be done. All of those supposed protections are meaningless in the face of the superior protection granted to police, judges, and prosecutors.
- ajmurmann 4y agoIt's so insane. It should be three exact opposite. If you hold public office, the punishment should be amplified not reduced or outright impossible. IMO if a judge gets caught even for a minor offense like shoplifting, they should get a year in prison and lose their job. If cops steal from suspects, manufacture or plant evidence they should look at the death penalty. The impact of the crime when committed by an official goes way beyond the immediate damage since it undermines the entire system. A cop being exposed as corrupt is much more harmful to the system than a private individual vomiting a murder. The punishment needs to be in accordance with that.
- user3939382 4y agoUnfortunately fighting with bad cops is like fighting with a rude low-level customer service rep. It may be true that they suck, but the ultimate source of the bad situation is the result of intentional decisions by people wearing nice suits somewhere, who through many layers of beauracracy, hired these low-level people to do their dirty work. The whole State at this point is oriented against the People. Fighting the police is at best very inefficient, even when you're in the right. This whole neocon/neolib uniparty and corporatocracy running our country has to be ousted first. Local level policy will follow naturally from that.
- DangitBobby 4y agoThey stole cash and deserve the ridicule.
- rendall 4y ago> This whole neocon/neolib uniparty and corporatocracy running our country has to be ousted first. IMO the most direct and safest route to that outcome is relentless and brave advocacy for election reform. Duverger's Law holds that first-past-the-goalpost-winner-take-all virtually guarantees a party duopoly. It may take a constitutional amendment, but proportional representation is the only way that could happen. All other fixes are useless band-aids or dangerous.
- mordae 4y agoMulti-party system is no guarantee either. Usually a newcomer party cannot rise quickly enough and by its second or third term will be completely assimilated by the system.
- FredPret 4y agoI'm originally from a country that has proportional representation. Let me tell you - it's a total disaster. One serious problem is actually the law you mention - in proportional rep there's a plethora of parties, most of whom have no chance of ever governing or influencing policy. Two-party states are better in that the population can punish party A by voting for party B and vice versa. In a many-party-state, some people stop voting for party A but they split their votes between B, C, D, and E, none of which are effective in opposing A. The other serious issue is that each party has a completely unaccountable and opaque system for deciding on a list of representatives. Getting on that list presents wonderful opportunities for corruption for bad politicians. I now live in first-past-the-post Canada and it's so much better. I have an actual politician who is motivated to help me when I ask and read my letters because a couple of thousand votes can swing the local election; whereas before I was a faceless, undifferentiated citizen and went completely ignored.
- frob 4y agoNWA had it right 35 years ago: https://youtu.be/ADdpLv3RDhA https://youtu.be/ADdpLv3RDhA
- eh9 4y agoMy tax dollars at work
- jaimex2 4y agoAmerica is such a weird place.
- xiphias2 4y agoThis lawsuit is a perfect demonstration of Streisand Effect. If they haven't filed it, I wouldn't have watched https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oponIfu5L3Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oponIfu5L3Y
- justin66 4y agoThere is some funny stuff about this, the videos Afroman made were pretty great, but the dark side is how much this reveals about police impunity. They know filing a case like this can only shed more light on their actions. They just don't care.
- Sparkyte 4y agoHey they were on his property. So it is his film.
- imgabe 4y agoDon't pick fights with people who buy ink by the barrel and all that.
- _heimdall 4y agoOne thing I wish more people would realize - we don't actually need police or judicial reform. Use the system against itself. Every criminal case goes before a jury. The jury's job isn't actually to decide guilty or not guilty, it's to decide punish or don't punish. Judges and lawyers do everything they can to align the system to "here are the rules, here are the facts, did this person break a rule?" In reality the jury is meant to be a check on judicial overreach. A jury of one's peers decides if you should be punished. If enough cases are decided despite the letter of the law, the law will be changed. See prohibition for a prime example.
- amrocha 4y agoYeah that's a great idea. At first it would take a lot of time, which would prompt cities to address the source of crime in the first place instead of just punishing. Unfortunately too many people can't afford to miss a single workday, and employers don't have to pay employees for jury duty.
- _heimdall 4y agoThe other alternatives are a) fundamental system reform that takes years and needs a short term solution or b) do nothing I wasn't arguing that jury nullification is the best or perfect answer. I simply raised that I wish more people viewed jurt duty this way. The jury is in charge in a court room. No one gets convicted criminally unless they take a deal or a jury decides it. Short of blowing up the entire system, anyone with jury duty today could do somefhing about it.
- wvenable 4y agoThe number of criminal cases decided by juries in the US is less than 1.5%. The vast majority of cases are decided by plea bargaining. So the system has this potential issue covered already.
- _heimdall 4y agoNot sure how that's related to my point though, people don't have to take a PA bargain and can always opt for a jury trial
- 49erfangoniners 4y agoI still don't know what Barbara Streisand is famous for
- CatWChainsaw 4y agoIIRC, she didn't want photos of her Malibu home on the Internet. Her suit to have them taken down only brought more attention to them.
- fortran77 4y agoIf police have qualified immunity, being allowed to have a case like this before the courts is insane.
- leke 4y ago> invasion of privacy and emotional distress Is this the stop hitting yourself defence?
- jnsaff2 4y agoPoetic justice, eh?
- hooby 4y agoI'm not American, so maybe there's something I don't know about here... but cops sue for "invasion of privacy" for being filmed? Aren't they persons in public practice, while on duty? How can official police work be "private"? A police officer on duty is a public figure. Of course they should get full privacy off duty... but while on the job shouldn't there be transparency about what they do?
- kkarakk 4y agoread the article, they're not suing for being filmed
- hooby 4y agoWell they are suing for multiple things, including commercial use of the filmed material. But that's not the "invasion of privacy" part.
- prmoustache 4y agoFrom a non american perspective, having cops banging a door for a warrant search while they could, you know, ring the bell, is already something weird. I imagine that is why they added the fake kidnapping part, to justify it by some fantasy imminent danger. I'd be curious to know who whas the invented victim in that case.
- ajhurliman 4y agoThere are probably some situations where breaking down a door is the right move, like serving an arrest warrant against an actively hostile, armed gang that has a history of shooting at the police. It’s likely that they’ll be killed before being arrested so giving them advance warning that police have arrived seems dumb. Afroman, however, doesn’t appear to meet these criteria.
- Ekaros 4y agoAll their work product including acting on this film should be in public domain. As it is produce by state or governmentally hired actor.
- dang 4y agoRelated: Will You Help Me Repair My Door [video] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34293904 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34293904 - Jan 2023 (124 comments) Also: Rap artist Afroman sued by officers who raided his home - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35283145 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35283145 - March 2023 (6 comments) US Police raids home; sues homeowner over CCTV footage of raid - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35281258 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35281258 - March 2023 (43 comments)
- leobg 4y agoHilarious. These super tough dudes with their guns and military style badass moves. And now they sue for emotional distress.
- jalapenos 4y agoThe problem remains giving police immunity from suit. You wouldn't be getting these outcomes if police were held as equal under law to everyone else, and private prosecution was still available. There's no need to reach for either extremes of "defund the police" and "defend the police (no matter what they do)". All that's needed is to restore previous law, and apply it equally to everyone.
- paws 4y agoIn all the discussion about qualified immunity, it seems to me police unions don't get discussed enough. Police unions appear to be a significant reason why police officers are shielded from accountability. They make police disciplinary records private [1], are why officers receive excessive overtime pay [2], sometimes including kickbacks to their municipality/town, issue cringeworthy statements [3], and pour $ millions into elections [4]. The more I learn about them, the more disappointment I have in American policing. Why does the American public tolerate police unions? Perhaps the better question is, who are the politicians that accept their money? [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/16/nyregion/nypd-discipline-records-ruling.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/16/nyregion/nypd-discipline-... [2] https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Police-overtime-spending-in-Schenectady-likely-to-17549696.php https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Police-overtime-spen... [3] https://www.nycpba.org/miscellaneous/anti-cop-city-council/ https://www.nycpba.org/miscellaneous/anti-cop-city-council/ [4] https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2022/06/police-unions-spend-millions-lobbying-to-retain-their-sway-over-big-us-cities-and-state-governments https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2022/06/police-unions-spend...
- rendall 4y ago(Not sure why the downvote, it's a legit question) I'm of a mind there should be more union protections for everyone, not fewer. The strong protections that police have should be the norm. As for police reform, I moved from the US to a Nordic country known for professional and committed cops. Mind blowing, how calm and peaceful and unfraught dealing with cops are, here. When I first moved here, it was the police department that handled immigration matters and I nearly had a panic attack. Completely unnecessary fear. To be a cop here requires 4 years of training, a degree, as well as ongoing psych evals. Everyone including the police are just so freaking reasonable it can be disconcerting! I'm not sure what is going on in the US that makes the government so extractive. That corruption is the root cause of any police corruption. But more training and exclusivity couldn't hurt.
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- cookingrobot 4y agoI sort of see their side. First you have to put aside whether they should have been there, and whether they committed crimes while on his property. Basically start by assuming the police in this situation are unsympathetic criminals. What rights do they still have even if they’re the bad guys here? They don’t have a right to privacy. It’s fine to publish videos of them stealing his money. It’s fine to make fun of them. But do you have the right to use their image in a video, for profit? Where’s the line between being allowed to make, own, and publish a video of someone, and being allowed to profit from it? If Tom Hanks visits your restaurant and is on your security camera, that’s legal. You can own that, and even publish it as a fact. But can you make a commercial showing him eating in your restaurant? No. You’d need a model release for that. You don’t get to use a video for commercial reasons, even if it’s ok to use it for editorial reasons.
- dodgerdan 4y agoThe police and famous actors occupy completely different roles in society and should be treated differently.
- cookingrobot 4y agoBut how specifically should they be treated differently? For ex, I don’t think police should ever have the right to privacy while on duty. Turning off body or security cameras should be a crime for them, and anything that happens after should be assumed to have been done with criminal intent. But I don’t think they should have their faces used in ads without their permission. That seems like a weird difference to apply to them.
- glandium 4y agoWow, I hadn't heard the name Afroman in what... 20 years? (when was "because I got high"?)
- tjpnz 4y ago$400 dollars wasn't enough for them?
- javajosh 4y agoWow, this is some serious Streisand effect. Thanks, the Ohio cops suing him, because you're going to make this story blow up even more now.
- Beldin 4y agoHilarious (in a "if I don't laugh, I'll cry" way): > Ohio officers, who conducted a botched raid of rapper’s home, are suing for invasion of privacy and emotional distress That was Afroman's point... he and his family were on the receiving end of an invasion of privacy and emotional distress.
- fundad 4y agoI was going to have you sign a release but I got high. I was going to ask you to uncuff me so I could get consent but I was high. Now you’re embarrassed AF for wasting time and money and I know why. Because you’re high because you’re so high, because power makes you hi-igh. La do da da da dah!
- terminatornet 4y agofor anyone who thinks "we should weed out the bad cops, then things will be good": "Ultimately, the reporters “found 300 cases in the past decade where an officer helped expose misconduct…The vast majority of those cases ended with those whistleblowers saying they faced retaliation.” Carroll’s piece continues to delve into different reporters’ thoughts about the whistleblower cases they analyzed and the stories they learned about. Read the article here." Policing in its current state can't be reformed. Either that or we've got a lot of weeding to do. https://whistleblowersblog.org/government-whistleblowers/new-research-examines-retaliation-against-police-whistleblowers/ https://whistleblowersblog.org/government-whistleblowers/new...
- daniel-thompson 4y agoThey're suing for among other things invasion of privacy, but is there a valid cause of action for that? IANAL but I thought it's been well-established that police officers have no expectation of privacy when performing their jobs. And in any event, isn't Ohio a one-party-consent state when it comes to electronic recordings? (Without getting into value judgments and the wider context around this, of which there is plenty to say and which other commenters have covered pretty thoroughly)
- BXLE_1-1-BitIs1 4y agoSunlight is the best disinfectant, but occasionally the vampires wail.
- leoh 4y agoNot that he should have ever had this experience with the cops, but why the heck does he live in Ohio?