...for classifying Juggalos as a criminal gang
They are thoroughly baffled by magnets, but the face-painted, Faygo-spraying gentlemen of Insane Clown Posse have a firm enough grip on the legal system that they are, in fact, going through with their proposed lawsuit against the Federal Bureau of Investigation for classifying their fans as a "loosely organized hybrid gang."
SPIN was at the 13th annual Gathering of the Juggalos in August when ICP formally declared war on the FBI, and on Tuesday, the Detroit horrorcore duo and their lawyers filed suit against the government organization "for its failure to produce any documentary evidence in support of the FBI's classification of the groups' fan base."
See our incredible gallery of fans from this year's Gathering of the Juggalos (NSFW).
On August 24, two weeks after the fest announcement, ICP submitted a Freedom of Information Act request for whatever FBI intel led to their labeling as "a criminal organization formed in the street." Aside from, as Gawker points out, their infiltration of the army and use of social networking to "expand."
That request has so far gone unanswered. The Plight of the Juggalo came to the attention of Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope when a New Mexico fan skipped his probation hearing and wound up on the state's Most Wanted list apparently due to his "gang affiliation" as an "Insane Clown Posse 'Juggalo'."
But this lawsuit, filed at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, may only be the beginning. ICP's label, Psychopathic Records, launched JuggalosFightBack.com as a resource for fans who feel they've been mistreated by law enforcement because of their taste for the Posse.
They claim to have received thousands of testimonies so far and are sorting through those to determine which would hold up in court. The end game, we hope, is to declare the Juggalo a protected class. Bizarre as all of this is, it could help protect music fans from future discrimination based on their taste.
source
It's the plight of the juggalo, you guys.