Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

Re: hip hop lyrics / threats /

Since you are an esteemed scholar in Media Effects, I am sure you are aware that the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects recording artists' rights to create works that are avant-garde or even offensive to many people. Thank God artists are not "arrested" for the content of their lyrics, at least not in the U.S, at least not yet. People have the ability to turn off the radio or change the station if they don't like what they are hearing.

A hip-hop listener who comes to believe that the lyrics in some record are "directed" personally to them may well be mentally ill or hallucinating.

If it can be proved that a lyric consitutes a real threat directed toward a specific individual, that person might be able to sue or complain to the authorities. There is a "fighting words" exception to the First Amendment -- but it is very narrowly applied. If your thesis is that rap music contributes to violence, etc. in the community, I do not agree with you. Poverty, unemployment, and drug deals gone bad are far more likely causes.

Re: hip hop lyrics / threats /

What makes a statement a threat is not just the combination of words but also the effect they will have on a reasonable person who hears them. If a reasonable person would believe that the speaker is talking about harming him *and* that he is likely to follow through then it is a threat.

A reasonable person listening to a song will not presume that the song is directed at her individually and thus cannot feel threatened by it.

Even lyrics that mention a particular public figure do not amount to a threat unless the public figure would reasonably believe the singer intended to go through with the acts described or that he intended to incite others to do so. Eminem surely did not intend to actually attack President Bush, and it would not have been reasonable for Bush to think that he did. I haven't heard the lyrics in question, but I doubt that the song was intended to incite anyone else to attack him, either. It was surely just an expression of Eminem's personal disdain for the President, and he is entitled to express his views just like anyone else.

While actual threats of illegal acts are not constitutionally protected (threats of legal acts, like filing a lawsuit or staging a boycott, are protected), expressing a point of view is and that is what these lyrics are doing.

The bottom line is that it is legal to say you wish someone would be harmed but it is not legal to try to make it happen or to cause that person to believe someone will try.