Police Union Wants Rapping Firefighter Fired

[Guest]

Police Union Wants Rapping Firefighter Fired. Song Includes Anti-Police Lyrics

PHILADELPHIA -- An aspiring rapper who also is a firefighter in Philadelphia is really feeling the heat these days.

Police union officials are calling for Rodney Jean-Jacques to be fired for anti-police lyrics in one of his songs. The rap song includes the line: "I hope the news is taping this, 'cause I'm gonna turn pigs into bacon bits."

The head of the Fraternal Order of Police in Philly said at first he thought the song was "a mistake of the head," but now he views it as "a mistake of the heart."

In an e-mail comment to the Philadelphia Daily News, Jean-Jacques said he wants to tell his side of the story, but he can't right now.

Jean-Jacques' music received positive notice in 2005, when he wrote and performed the fire safety song "Take It Outside." It was promoted by the fire department and was shown during the broadcast of a football game between the Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys.

[IzzyEng4 427]

He's already been relived of his duties last week by the fire department.

[CAM502 6]

He's already been relived of his duties last week by the fire department.

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What? Was he a proby, or did he "misuse department time" while writing the song? I'm not defending the words in his song, but I don't see how this should affect his job as a FF.

[Future Fireman 4]

Hey, come on! What happened to 'Freedom of SPEECH' which includes RAPPING. He should sue.

Mike

[RWC130 594]

No disrespect to ANY Police Officers on this board.

Is the Firefighter Guilty of:

Bad Taste? YES!

FF a Jerk? YES!

Really Stupid? YES!

Unprofessional? YES!

Now....

Loss of his FF Job? HMMMMM

I think a good lawyer is gonna see $$$$$ with this one.

[Guest alsfirefighter]

Freedom of speech!

Worried about this..but I'm sure there are many cases of delayed FD responses or interaction on scenes that are more of a problem than this.

[Guest]

Complicated. Those words are pretty disrespectful, and could be interpreted as "fighting words." I don't know how i would handle this, but thats why i don't make the big bucks On a less official level, he should choose if he wants to be a FF or a rapper.

[Guest alsfirefighter]

Why should he have to pick? If that's his side job more power to him! You just tryin to keep a brotha down. lol.

[Guest partyrock]

He's an a$$ but he has rights. That shouldn't get him fired. Have any of you heard him rap? Now there is grounds for his firing. Everytime he calls himself a rapper or attempts to perform as a rapper he should be brought up for conduct unbecoming and actions bringing disrespute. He is f-ing horrible. The man needs to keep him down.

[Truck4 48]

The grounds for firing would come out of whatever the city and department use as a code of conduct that, as a civil employee, you sign on to follow when hired. They should also have guidelines covering what is acceptable side work, as many municipalities do. I'm sure the PFD will cite some section of "conduct unbecoming" when releasing the official decision.

So if the city backs your career and invests money in your music and you then go and do something like this, expext to be filling out applications at McDonald's.

When working in the fields of emergency service, you are held to a higher standard than the rest of the civilian world- on and off-duty.

[AFS1970 504]

You will not find many stonger advocates of our Freedom of Speech than me, but just like the proverbial yelling FIRE in a crowded theater encouraging others or saying that you are planning on assaulting or killing Police Officers is not free speech. So I would not agree that free speech extends to rap in this case any more than it extends to any other supposed art form that take a similar stance against the police.

Second of all, I would venture a guess that he was actually fired for disobeying an order, since he was ordered to appologize to the PD and refused. This was after being asked nicely by his union to do so. Like all the other black eyes we all too often read about, this guy is a scumbag who just happens to have been hired as a Firefighter. He obviously didn't grasp the whole Brotherhood part of the Emergency Services.

What seperates the gentlemen from the scumbags is quite clear, and actually more so here on these boards. Think of all the debates we have had, about police vs fire on scenes, who's in charge, who arrests who, highway safety, ect.....no matter how heated these fueds get, none of us ever advocated the wholesale killing of members of the other service.

[IzzyEng4 427]

Guys, though I am for all first amendment rights, this guy I don't support. Why, because he made a hostile threat with the use of words in a song and the city has a zero tolerance for a hostile work environment. How can you be someone who is held in high regard by the public and take an oath to help the people of the city and do something like this??? This is more than bad taste.

All cities and their working departments have a zero tolerance policies when it comes to threats toward others, racial implications and hatred, sexual harassment and so on. When you become an employee you attend classes for sensitivity and also as part of your contract, sign an agreement with the municipality that if you have taken place in such prejudice acts towards other employees privately and publicly and it is proved, then you are on ground for immediate termination and their is no way the ACLU can back a person on it, since they were the ones who designed the clauses.

How would all the the firefighters and EMT's he would feel if he said he wanted to "bust a cap in their heads" in his song??? I think this thread would be totally different than the spin that is going on here.

Yes it is a stupid decision on his part and he should have though about what he was writing and rapping about. He deserved to loose his job.

[MTACOP 0]

Sometimes you have to sit back and say "WTF". While I may not agree with the lyrics I do strongly support free speech. Everyone is too politically correct these days.

Take the money that will be wasted on the future legal actions and put it into new equipment, or would that make sense?

[RC2389 0]

Legally, I don't believe his right of freedom of speech is protected in this case because his words can be interpreted as advocating violence against police. The Supreme Court has dealt with the issue of "fighting words" a number of times, and since the lyrics glorify and promote violence (especially against police officers, which is representative of the government), they can be censored.

Personally, I think it was in bad taste. There are other ways to gain street cred.

[helicopper 1,050]

They will probably go after him for conduct unbecoming or other departmental regulations to that affect.

As for the free speech card, try saying bomb at an airport and see how far your free speech argument gets you with the TSA as they inspect orifices with a microscope.

I'm not a big fan of songs, video games, or other "stuff" that promotes acts of violence or criminal activity! The Supreme Court and other courts around the country have held that first amendment protections do not apply to threats or messages that can incite or promote illegal behavior. (Cut me some slack with the exact terms - I'm not a lawyer I just play one on TV) Promoting acts of violence against police certainly qualifies.

Just another perspective.

[Guest partyrock]

They will probably go after him for conduct unbecoming or other departmental regulations to that affect. 

As for the free speech card, try saying bomb at an airport and see how far your free speech argument gets you with the TSA as they inspect orifices with a microscope.

I'm not a big fan of songs, video games, or other "stuff" that promotes acts of violence or criminal activity!  The Supreme Court and other courts around the country have held that first amendment protections do not apply to threats or messages that can incite or promote illegal behavior.  (Cut me some slack with the exact terms - I'm not a lawyer I just play one on TV)  Promoting acts of violence against police certainly qualifies.

Just another perspective.

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If lyrics promoting illegal behavior were not protected then there wouldn't be a single successful rap album out of the early 90's. Comments inteded to incite panic ("fire" in a movie theater, "bomb" at an airport) are not protected. Threats toward an individual are not protected. But you can go out there and promote the killing of cops, blacks, white, whoever. You gust can't get specific about an individual.