REDDING, Calif. — A group of Juggalos tell us they don’t deserve negative attention and that the group actually prides itself on family and belonging.
KRCR News Channel Seven ran a story a few weeks ago about the “Juggalos,” people who follow the band The Insane Clown Posse.
Law enforcement considers them a gang and a recent murder in Redding has been tied to a Juggalo.
The Insane Clown Posse started out as hip-hop duo out of Detroit. Their lyrics are often violent and explicit. Radio stations won’t play their songs and MTV won’t show their videos, but they have developed a large group of very loyal fans. Some of them dress up and paint their faces like the two band leaders.
Our Juggalo story hit the internet and we’ve had people from all over the world e-mailing us, saying not all Juggalos are bad. Many also stressed that not all Juggalos treat the group like a gang.
Joseph Herinck is a Juggalo and Lacy Tomas is a Juggalette.
They tell us they grew up as outcasts until they got their hands on Insane Clown Posse CD’s. That’s what led them to the Juggalo community, where they say they are constantly surrounded by love and acceptance.
They admit that some Juggalos might commit crimes, but say a few bad apples shouldn’t ruin it for the whole bunch.
They tell us, “we are part of this community. We have families, we have jobs, we pay our taxes, we go to work everyday and it’s just kind of prejudice to me to be able to just sit there and say that every Juggalo is the same. People are gonna do what they’re gonna do regardless of what religion or you know, thing they’re a part of. We all might be Juggalos but we still make decisions that aren’t the best, individually.”
They tell us their figure, a hatchet man, symbolizes their Juggalo community. They say just because they have a symbol, doesn’t mean they’re a gang.
Herinck and Tomas tell us they like being Juggalos because it allows them to be around other people who share the same interests and taste in music.
They want to prove to the community that not every Juggalo is about violence. Herinck and Tomas say they even have plans of organizing some community clean-ups.
Lovely how the icp and juggalo media unit work , maybe if juggalos were not commiting murders , attacking people , drawing gang tags and making threats online and offline the police and media would leave them alone.
This site alone gets 2 threats a day from juggalos wanting to meet us and kill us
