A Nashville comedian is suing the city’s fire department for violating his right to free speech. Joshua Lipscomb, better known online as comedian Josh Black, was suspended over tweets he made under his stage name.
On Twitter, Lipscomb criticized the Metro Council’s decision to expand the city’s use of license plate readers, which he worried would lead to “aggressive surveillance” of Black and brown communities. In another tweet, he urged millennials to vote in local elections and called the majority of the Metro Council “white supremacists” who “want us dead.”
Nashville’s fire chief disavowed the tweets, and suspended Lipscomb for 16 days under department policy that restricts social media use that could reflect poorly on the department, as well as several other policies that require employees to be “respectful” and refrain from criticizing, ridiculing or defaming any members or agencies of the Metro government.
Lipscomb’s attorneys say the policies are “vague,” “overbroad” and violate his rights to free speech, protected in both the Tennessee and U.S. constitutions.
“Josh Black, as an extremely active observer of government activity, has a lot to say about issues of public concern but has been chilled from speaking out fully because of the threat of increasing punishment at his job,” they wrote.
In a press release, they also noted that his Josh Black social media accounts do not identify him as an employee of the Nashville Fire Department.
Lipscomb, under his stage name, has attracted a large local following for his comedic — and often political — observations about the changing region. His jokes range from jabs at bachelorettes to commentary on gentrification.
If you’re moving to Nashville here’s what you need to know 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/xI7OTJVqOt
— Josh Black (@SirJoshuaBlack) January 21, 2021
At a hearing last month, the suit says, Lipscomb said he believed his statements were protected free speech and that disciplining him for the tweets would be “vast government overreach.”
“When I took this job, I accepted the risk serving the community as a firefighter may result in injury or death,” he said. “I do not accept, however, that it also requires me to sacrifice my constitutional rights and in particular my right to speak freely as a private citizen on public political decisions which affect me as a Black man, a Nashvillian, a Tennessean and an American.”
The chief decided to punish Lipscomb anyway — the second time the department disciplined him for social media posts. In 2020, Lipscomb was suspended eight days for publishing a recording of a phone call with the owner of a local company, HatWRKS, which was selling yellow Star of David patches for people who refused to get the COVID-19 vaccine, which many considered an antisemitic reference to the patches Jews were forced to wear during the Holocaust.
City council members have spoken in support of Lipscomb, saying that his work as a firefighter shouldn’t stop him from speaking up.
This isn’t the first time the department’s been sued over its policy on social media use. Last year, another NFD employee sued for alleged retaliation over his social media posts criticizing the Black Lives Matter movement.
The department declined to comment on pending litigation.
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