Appeals court reinstates Insane Clown Posse's lawsuit against the FBI

The members of Insane Clown Posse.
(Image credit: Carlo Allegri/Getty Images)

It looks like Insane Clown Posse and a handful of Juggalos will have their day in court after all.

On Thursday, a U.S. appeals court in Ohio resuscitated a lawsuit that the hip hop duo and four of their fans brought against the Department of Justice and FBI, Reuters reports. In 2011, the FBI's National Gang Intelligence Center released a report that identified Juggalos — Insane Clown Posse super fans who sport clown face makeup and rally around a logo of a hatchet man — as a "hybrid gang." Insane Clown Posse and the Juggalos (who are one million strong, according to ICP) say their constitutional rights have been violated because of this label, with court documents showing the four Juggalos claim they were stopped, detained, and questioned by local law enforcement in 2012 and 2013 and denied opportunities with the Army because of their Insane Clown Posse tattoos. Insane Clown Posse maintains that a 2012 performance was canceled because of the gang designation.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.