In September 2012, noted “horror core” hip hop duo Insane Clown Posse sued the FBI seeking to obtain documents explaining why the federal government labeled ICP fans (aka “Juggalos”) as a “loosely organized hybrid gang” under the National Gang Threat Assessment. Now, with the help of the ACLU, the ICP is suing the FBI again to challenge the designation. According to the ICP, this designation has resulted in the unwarranted harassment of ICP fans. The NYT reports:
In its lawsuit, Insane Clown Posse said that, even more than other hip-hop artists whose music “uses very harsh language to tell nightmarelike stories with an underlying message that horrible things happen to people who choose evil over good,” the band’s own songs offered “hopeful, life-affirming themes about the wonders of life and the support that Juggalos give to one another.”
The lawsuit asks the court to set aside the findings of the 2011 F.B.I. gang assessment, order the elimination of “criminal intelligence information” on Juggalos from government and law-enforcement databases and prohibit the gathering of further information without “sufficient facts” of a “definable criminal activity or enterprise.”