Restoring Artistic Protection (RAP) Act Introduced In the US House of Representatives — “Bob Marley Did Not Confess to Having Shot a Sheriff”
A new bill has been introduced in the US House of Representatives to address an issue of growing concern for music artists, particularly those in the hip-hop genre. Introduced by Congressmen Hank Johnson (D-GA) and Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), the Restoring Artistic Protection (RAP) Act seeks to protect artists from the use of their lyrics against them as legal evidence in criminal and civil cases.
"Freddy Mercury did not confess to having ‘just killed a man' by putting ‘a gun against his head' and ‘pulling the trigger.' Bob Marley did not confess to having shot a sheriff. And Johnny Cash did not confess to shooting ‘a man in Reno, just to watch him die,'" notes a very apt release announcing the proposed legislation.
The RAP Act would add a presumption to the Federal Rules of Evidence "that would limit the admissibility of evidence of an artist's creative or artistic expression against that artist in court."