October 14, 2005
Wrongly accused rapper shows downside of 'fame'

By ANDREW BERGH
Special to the Journal

His job as a banquet server paid the bills.

But Travis Riddle had more ambitious plans: To attain fame and fortune as a rap musician.

On Aug. 15, 2002, however, Riddle's aspirations took a hit. That's when a disc jockey on a radio station in Riddle's hometown reportedly accused him of murdering his girlfriend, who was actually alive and doing quite well at the time. In his ensuing defamation suit, Riddle learned a lesson on how being a public figure could have its drawbacks, too.

The Case of the Wrongly Accused Rapper hails from Brunswick, a small town in coastal Georgia with approximately 16,000 residents.

While pursuing his music career, Riddle had achieved a degree of notoriety in his hometown. He had performed at local rap concerts, self-published a CD, and made about $10,000 in profits. His music occasionally got played by Antonio "Tone" Warrick, a disc jockey on a nightly rap music show that aired on WSEG 104.1, an FM station in Brunswick with a 30-mile broadcast range.

On the night in question, after receiving 10 or 11 calls from listeners who said they heard rumors that Riddle had murdered his girlfriend, Warrick put an unidentified caller on the air.

Who said what is a matter of dispute, as the digital recording was later overwritten.

According to Warrick, he told the caller he hadn't heard the rumor, and just "left it open" for the audience before playing the next song. But according to several other listeners, including Riddle's mother, the disc jockey said Riddle had killed his girlfriend and that the police were looking for her body.

At the time of the radio show, Riddle was living and working in Atlanta as a banquet server.

Perhaps tipped off by his mother, the rapper called Warrick on the air and told him he was aware of the rumored murder of his girlfriend, which he blamed on a domestic dispute and a "misunderstanding." He also said the rumor started when his girlfriend failed to show up at work and her mother filed a missing persons report.

Following the broadcast, rumors of the alleged murder persisted for some time. According to a record producer, the scuttlebutt caused him to change his mind about producing an album for Riddle.

Riddle eventually filed a defamation suit against the radio station owner, Golden Isles Broadcasting, LLC, in Glynn County Superior Court. A key witness was the girlfriend, Josephine Howard, who was willing to confirm that she had not been murdered.

But Riddle faced a huge obstacle called the First Amendment.

Under free speech principles, a "public figure" suing for defamation must prove the defendant acted with "actual malice." That's a tall order, as it requires proof that the defendant (or its employee) either knew the defamatory statement was false, or acted in "reckless disregard of the truth."

Given this heavy burden, Golden Isles moved to dismiss the rapper's suit. Siding with the defendant, the trial court ruled that Riddle was a public figure. Why? Because he wanted to be a recording artist, had regularly performed in that capacity, and thought his message conveyed an important message to society. Since Riddle had no proof Warrick had acted with actual malice, the trial court also tossed his case out of court.

But Riddle appealed — and only 10 days ago, the Georgia appeals court spoke.

The "key issue," said the court, is whether Riddle was a private or public figure. Since there are two kinds of public figures -- "general purpose" and "limited purpose" -- the court proceeded to analyze whether Riddle fit either type.

A general purpose public figure, said the court, must be a "celebrity" -- i.e., someone whose ideas and actions are followed so closely by the public that his name becomes a "household word." This label didn't fit Riddle, the court ruled, because although the plaintiff "enjoyed some popularity" among local rap music fans, he was hardly a household name. To the contrary, Riddle had made little money from his performances, had only started looking for investors, and, until his lawsuit was filed, was not even known to Golden Isles' own station managers.

A limited purpose public figure, on the other hand, is someone who participates, either voluntarily or otherwise, in a "public controversy." This also didn't apply, said the court, which observed that since there was no homicide, Riddle was never a named suspect in a murder investigation. There was likewise nothing "public" about Howard's temporary disappearance, said the court, because it was never covered by the local media.

So has Riddle won the war?

Not exactly. But thanks to the appeals court's ruling, the rapper will only have to prove negligence — not "actual malice" — if his defamation claim goes to trial.

The question in my mind, however, relates more so to damages. Even assuming Riddle was falsely accused of murder, the fact remains that everyone knows he's innocent since the "victim" is still alive.

But since Brunswick isn't my hometown, I'll let a Glynn County jury be the arbiter of damages.