Rapper threatened harm, judge rules
Two other charges related to music video dismissed
Rapper Darren John was found guilty Tuesday of threatening to cause bodily harm to his former music promoter through a rap video, but acquitted of threatening death and criminal harassment.
John, who performs under the name Avalanche the Architect, was accused of creating a music video for the song “Got Yourself a Gun” using several photographs of promoter Sonia Harry. He had fallen out with Harry in May 2012, after she told him she no longer wanted him to perform at an Ottawa show, Ontario Court Justice Lucia Favret said in her lengthy ruling.
Harry had testified that she believed the lyrics in the video were directed at her. The video appeared after she said she received several profane and frightening texts and phone calls from John, she testified.
“I find those images and those words (in the music video) were meant to intimidate and be taken seriously,” Favret said in her ruling.
However, Favret said she had reasonable doubt, based on the entirety of the evidence, that the music video contained actual death threats.
She also found that the calls and texts John sent to Harry were “annoying and frustrating” to Harry, but did not meet the standard for criminal harassment.
In her ruling, Favret found there were several lyrics in the music video that refer to Harry, some by name and some not.
The title of the video begins “F--Sonia,” the judge said. And photographs of Harry that the promoter testified were taken from her Facebook account without her permission are juxtaposed with lyrics such as: “Lying, saying I gave you death threats. Better leave T.O., that’s your best bet,” Favret said.
Favret said Harry was a credible witness who testified she felt “devastated . . . degraded and insulted,” when seeing the video online.
John represented himself during much of the trial, which began in December 2013, but did not take the stand in his defence. He argued that, while he created the song, he did not create the music video containing the photos of Harry, nor put it online.
He said the song was intended to be a “battle rap” in response to rapper Scotian Sparxx, who works with Harry and is mentioned repeatedly in the song. However, Favret noted that John called no evidence to support this during the trial.
John also argued that the video was an expression of an “art form not a threat,” Favret said.
However, Favret found that the video could be considered “artistic expression and evidence of criminal activity at the same time.”
Favret also dismissed two Charter applications by John, one alleging discrimination, the other that there were no grounds for his arrest.
After the verdict, John maintained the song does not contain any threats and Sparxx is the target of the lyrics.
“I was engaged in a rap battle. This is artistic expression between two musicians,” said John, who said he intends to appeal.