Colorado Adams County Sheriff Flooded With Misdirected Messages After Ohio Afroman Verdict

The Adams County Sheriff's Office in Colorado had nothing to do with rapper Afroman, a 2022 drug raid, or a defamation lawsuit. That did not stop hundreds of people from treating it as if it did.

After a jury in Adams County, Ohio cleared Joseph Foreman, known professionally as Afroman, of defamation charges on Wednesday, the Colorado sheriff's office was buried under a wave of misdirected social media comments, direct messages, and phone calls from people who confused the two agencies. The Colorado office, located more than 1,200 miles from the Ohio courthouse, posted a video and a tweet on March 18 to set the record straight.

"The Adams County Sheriff's Office has received a flood of social media comments, DMs, and phone calls about the #Afroman defamation trial," the Colorado agency wrote. "It's clear this is important to a lot of people. There's just one small issue: that's the ACSO in Ohio. We are the ACSO in #Colorado."

The tweet accompanied what KRDO described as a "quick geography lesson" video, in which the Colorado office emphasized that its deputies never raided Afroman's home and were not parties to the lawsuit.

The underlying Ohio case began in August 2022, when Adams County, Ohio deputies executed a search warrant at Afroman's home in connection with an investigation into alleged drug trafficking and kidnapping. Deputies found no evidence and filed no criminal charges. Afroman, however, had surveillance cameras throughout his home, and he used the footage in music videos, including one titled "Lemon Pound Cake," a reference to the cake his deputies were seen eyeing on his kitchen table. The videos, which showed rifle-wielding deputies busting down his door and searching his shoes and suit pockets, were viewed more than 3 million times on YouTube.

Seven Adams County, Ohio deputies sued Foreman for defamation and invasion of privacy, arguing he had posted lies about them repeatedly over three and a half years. The suit alleged Foreman's posts accused officers of being "criminals disguised as law enforcement" and "white supremacists," claimed Officer Brian Newman "used to do hard drugs" before "snitching" on friends, and falsely stated that Officer Lisa Phillips "is biologically male." Sgt. Randy Walters testified that his child was hazed at school because of Afroman's posts. The deputies collectively sought nearly $4 million in damages and asked the court to bar Foreman from using their likenesses in any future commercial work.

"Mr. Foreman perpetuated lies intentionally, repeatedly, over three and a half years on the internet about these seven brave deputy sheriffs," plaintiffs' attorney Robert Klingler told the jury in closing arguments. "Mr. Foreman knew that what he posted on the internet were lies."

Defense attorney David Osborne framed the case differently, arguing it centered on freedom of speech and the long tradition of artists using social commentary to criticize public figures. During closing arguments, he gestured toward Foreman, who had worn an American flag suit with matching sunglasses to court every day of the trial, and asked the jury: "Look at that suit. Does this look like a man who thinks that everybody's going to assume that everything he's saying is fact?"

The jury sided with Foreman. After the Wednesday evening verdict, he shouted outside the courthouse: "We did it, America! Yeah, we did it! Freedom of speech! Right on! Right on!" He later posted video of the celebration to social media. "I didn't win," Foreman said. "America won. America still has freedom of speech. It's still for the people by the people."

Back in Colorado, the sheriff's office noted the irony of being caught in the viral fallout of a case it had no part in. The office's clarification video and tweet circulated widely, offering a reminder that two states can share a county name without sharing anything else.