Yes, there is no typo in the title above. Face painted rap duo the Insane Clown Posse plan to sue the FBI in response to a 2011 report released by the agency. Last year, the FBI released their ‘National Gang Threat Assessment Report’, and a much publicized inclusion was the sub-set of crazed Insane Clown Posse fans, who refer to themselves as Juggalos. The FBI cited the Juggalos as a “loosely organized hybrid gang”, despite the fact that Juggalos are most known for painting their faces, spraying each other with root beer, and posting terrible rap videos to YouTube.
News of the potential law suit was broken at the 2012 Gathering of the Juggalos – the Insane Clown Posses’ annual festival which is more of a free for all circus than anything else. Think Burning Man, except replace all the art and culture with rednecks and face paint. Don’t believe us? Watch the festival’s promotional video, filmed infomercial style, below. It is more absurd than any Saturday Night Live parody could ever imagine (and they tried). Let me paint you a picture: The Insane Clown Posse are your otherworldly headliners, and are joined by 10 other random bands who happen to also wear face paint. Throw in a bunch of extremely awesome hip hop acts (The Game, DMX, Geto Boys, Raekwon, Danny Brown, Three 6 Mafia), a couple of extremely random acts (Parliament Funkadelic?), a bunch of professional wrestlers (Ric Flair!), and of course, Cheech and Chong to round out the line-up. Does that not sound like the most random clusterfuck of entertainment on earth? Yes, yes it does.
In an interview with VICE, ICP member Violent J actually made some valid points in defense of the lawsuit, explaining “Consider a Juggalo that, 15 years ago, got a hatchet man tattoo or something. Now they’ve got a family, they’re working in real estate or something, and they’re driving home and get a speeding ticket. Next thing you know, he’s in the gang file, and that will be taken into consideration in any trial. Suddenly, it ain’t just somebody who fucked up, it’s a gang member that fucked up, and they’re getting a heavier sentence.”
However literally as I write this, some recent news has broken from the Gathering of the Juggalos festival. After some Juggalos suspected a fellow festival goer had been stealing from attendees, they ransacked his car, lifted it onto a trailer, and transported it a half a mile to the festival’s main stage, while the thief was chased out of the festival. A perfect news story to break the day after announcing intentions to sue the government.