Juggalos. They love Faygo and face paint, but above all, the hardcore hip-hop group Insane Clown Posse. Last year, in its 2011 National Gang Threat Assessment report, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) classified all those who are “down with the clown,” as they might say, as a “loosely-organized hybrid gang,” on par with the Crips and the Bloods.
One can imagine that didn’t sit particularly well with the Juggalo community, which refers to itself as a family. On Friday, at the annual Gathering of the Juggalos in Cave-In-Rock, Ill., ICP members Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope announced that they and their record label, Psychopathic Records, would be pursuing legal action against the FBI.
"We're not attacking the FBI, but they got this wrong,” Violent J said in a press release. “The Juggalos are not a gang, and that needs to be fixed."
The group has retained legal counsel, Howard Hertz of Michigan firm Hertz Schram P.C., and is asking Juggalos and Juggalettes who feel their rights have been violated due to their association with the group to share their stories, which the legal team will review for free. They can do so at JuggalosFightBack.com: “a place for ‘los and ‘lettes to be heard.”
"It's been almost a year since Juggalos were put on the National Gang Threat Assessment and we are hearing too many stories from our fans about the trouble it's causing them,” Shaggy 2 Dope said in a press release. “Just because you like a music group, doesn't make you a criminal."
Read more at the Village Voice and the New York Times.
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