Insane Clown Posse, four fans and the ACLU have sued the FBI and the Justice Department over the issue that their fans, nicknamed "Juggalos," have been classified as a gang.
The lawsuit is to have Juggalos removed from the FBI's National Gang Intelligence Center list, reports Rolling Stone. The complaint, which was filed in Detroit on Wednesday said, "Organized crime is by no means part of the Juggalo culture."
The agency's list notes that Juggalos are a "loosely-organized hybrid gang." Fans of ICP tend to paint their faces similar to the style of the duo.
An attorney helping the ACLU, Saura Sahu, told the magazine, "The FBI had the impact they wanted: they scared people away from attending concerts and from affiliating together for the purpose of listening to music." They claim that the gang designation has led to a decline of the group's five-day music festival, the Gathering of the Juggalos.
According to Reuters, ACLU legal director Michael Steinberg released a statement that it was a constitutional violation to have branded "hundreds of thousands of music fans as gang members based on the acts of a few."
Insane Clown Posse are Shaggy 2 Dope, Joseph Utsler, and Violent J, Joseph Bruce, and they have been releasing music together for nearly 25 years.
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