Detective Won’t ‘Shake, Shimmy’ at Obscenity Trial of 2 Live Crew

A defense attorney invited a vice squad detective to step down from the witness stand Thursday and demonstrate for the jury the type of suggestive dancing he said he saw during a concert by the rap group 2 Live Crew.

Broward County Sheriff’s detective Eugene McCloud, who on Wednesday seemed embarrassed even to repeat the sexually explicit lyrics sung by the controversial group in a Hollywood, Fla., nightclub, refused.

Attorney Bruce Rogow, who is defending the rap group against obscenity charges, later told reporters: “He (McCloud) won’t shake and shimmy for me, and I think that makes the case fall apart. All they have is a microcassette recording that is unintelligible. It’s a fraction of the performance.”

Prosecutors charge that the adults-only show on June 10 was clearly and intentionally obscene, and that the tape--however poor--proves it. Rogow argues that the concert was not obscene and that the state is mounting “an anal retentive prosecution” that “shows their fixation on dirty words.”

Under questioning by Rogow on Thursday, McCloud testified that within a block of one sheriff’s department substation are two adult bookstores, which sell magazines and rent videotapes depicting all manner of explicit sexual activity, and that clubs where topless and bottomless dancers perform operate with impunity in several areas of the county.

This case has drawn worldwide attention not only because many view it as a test of the 1st Amendment guarantee of free speech, but also because of an implied racial issue. Although many of the group’s fans are white--in fact, the vast majority of the 120 people in the concert audience were white--2 Live Crew’s leader Luther Campbell contends that non-blacks often don’t understand the humor of the group’s lyrics.