An online music video filled with violent threats directed towards two cops was a “true threat” and not protected speech under the First Amendment, the Pennsylvania state Supreme Court ruled.
The high court turned down an appeal by the video’s creator who made “highly personalized” descriptions of killing police officers in the lyrics of his music video, naming two officers who had previously arrested him and were scheduled to testify against him in a criminal case.
The rapper Jamal Knox had argued that the song was protected speech and that a conviction was a violation of First Amendment rights. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that Knox’s lawyer argued that the song was “artistic.”
Chief Justice Thomas Saylor acknowledged the nature and sentiment of rap music but maintained that the lyrics did not include political, social, or academic commentary, nor was it satirical or ironic.
“They do not merely address grievances about police-community relations or generalized animosity toward the police…Rather, they primarily portray violence toward the police, ostensibly due to the officers’ interference…” Saylor wrote in the opinion.
Knox’s claim was supported by several First Amendment-focused groups who said that the song constituted free speech protections.
Associated Press Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Washington Post OpinionSee more: Artistic Speech and Hate Speech
Tags
