Editing Jello Biafra (section)

====Obscenity prosecution====
In April 1986, police officers raided Biafra's house in response to complaints by the [[Parents Music Resource Center]] (PMRC).<ref>{{cite news|first=Ted|last=Drozdowski|url=http://www.providencephoenix.com/archive/music/97/07/10/JELLO.html|title=Bullshit detector|newspaper=[[The Phoenix (newspaper)|Providence Phoenix]]|date=July 10–17, 1997|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060304152601/http://www.providencephoenix.com/archive/music/97/07/10/JELLO.html |archive-date=March 4, 2006|accessdate=January 24, 2006}}</ref> In June 1986, L.A. deputy city attorney Michael Guarino, working under City Attorney [[James Hahn]], brought Biafra to trial in Los Angeles for distributing "harmful material to minors" in the Dead Kennedys album ''[[Frankenchrist]]''.<ref group="nb">Guarino alleged that a family claimed that the poster had harmed their children. This was the first instance of a musician on trial for obscenity. Many sources cite the trial of [[2 Live Crew]] as the first, but that trial was three years after Biafra's.</ref> However, the dispute was about neither the music nor the lyrics from the album, but rather the print of the H. R. Giger poster ''Landscape XX'' (''[[Penis Landscape]]'') included with the album.

Music author [[Reebee Garofalo]] argued that Biafra and Alternative Tentacles may have been targeted because the label was a "small, self-managed and self-supported company that could ill afford a protracted legal battle."<ref>{{cite book|first=Reebee|last=Garofalo|title=Rockin' Out: Popular Music in the USA|publisher=[[Allyn & Bacon]]|location=Boston, Massachusetts|date=1997|pages=433–434|isbn=0-205-13703-2}}</ref> Facing the possible sentence of a year in jail and a $2,000 fine, Biafra, [[Dirk Dirksen]], and Suzanne Stefanac founded the No More Censorship Defense Fund, a benefit featuring several punk rock bands, to help pay for his legal fees, which neither he nor his record label could afford. The jury deadlocked 5 to 7 in favor of acquittal, prompting a mistrial; despite a motion to retry the case, the judge ordered all charges dropped.<ref>{{cite news|title=Deadlock in Biafra Trial Results in Dismissal|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-08-28-me-2818-story.html|agency=[[Associated Press]]|newspaper=[[The Los Angeles Times]]|date=August 28, 1997}}</ref> The Dead Kennedys disbanded during the trial, in December 1986, due to the mounting legal costs; in the wake of their disbandment, Biafra made a career of his spoken word performances.

Biafra has a [[cameo role]] in the 1988 film ''[[Tapeheads]]''. He plays an [[FBI]] agent who arrests the two protagonists (played by [[Tim Robbins]] and [[John Cusack]]). While arresting them, his character asks "Remember what we did to Jello Biafra?" lampooning the obscenity prosecution.

On March 25, 2005, Biafra appeared on the U.S. radio program ''[[This American Life]]'', [http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/285/Know-Your-Enemy "Episode 285: Know Your Enemy"], which featured a phone call between Jello Biafra and Michael Guarino, the prosecutor in the ''Frankenchrist'' trial.

''Porn Rock: The Obscenity Trial of Jello Biafra'', a play written by Lawrence Meyers, was staged in Los Angeles in February 2025, depicting the obscenity prosecution and its implications.<ref name="PORN ROCK">{{cite web |last1=Scheffler |first1=Daniel |title=PORN ROCK |url=https://www.spin.com/2025/03/porn-rock-trial-of-jello-biafra/ |website=[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]] |access-date=April 17, 2025 |date=March 5, 2025}}</ref>