Ice-T, once the target of music bans, says courting public controversy isn’t worth the ‘buzz’
“Anybody that thinks controversy is a way to make money, it’s not,” said rapper and actor Ice-T.
Ice-T has some words of wisdom for the next generation of musicians about courting controversies. In a recent interview with The Guardian, the 66-year-old rapper reflected on some of the controversial decisions he’s made throughout his career. When asked about his heavy metal band Body Count’s 1992 song “Cop Killer,” Ice-T admitted that he regretted releasing it.
“I got news for people,” he explained. “Anybody that thinks controversy is a way to make money, it’s not. You get a lot of buzz, but now you need lawyers.”
Following the release of the band’s protest song, police organizations like The Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas (CLEAT) released calls to boycott Warner Bros. production. While law enforcement leadership claimed the song ignited racial tensions across the country, Ice-T recalls the “heat” that was directed at him because of the song.
“I never really questioned myself, but the heat came when they started sending bomb threats to Warner Bros. I threw the rock, that’s my heat,” he added. “But when other people could get hurt, that’s nerve-racking.”
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At the time, Ice-T responded to critics explaining that the song features him “singing in the first person as a character who is fed up with police brutality.” Making it clear that he does not endorse violence against police, the rapper emphasized that he “ain’t never killed a cop” and that the song does not encourage others to do so.
Eventually, the musician decided to pull the song from all copies of Body Count’s debut album after the studio’s executives and shareholders received death threats. However, before making the announcement, Ice-T forced reporters to watch a 40-minute civil rights documentary, standing firm on his opinions about law enforcement.
“I don’t understand why I’m supposed to like the police,” he said during the announcement, per People magazine. “None of my leaders liked them. Martin Luther King, Malcolm X. They’ve never been a friend of Black people. As for the ones that are handling the job correctly, I have all the respect in the world for them. As for the brutal ones, I’d rather get rid of them before they get rid of me.”
While some may call him “woke” for publicly speaking out against police brutality, Ice-T simply sees his work as a musician and longtime actor on “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit” — on which he ironically portrays a cop — as a way of showing he cares. In addition to having lawyers on standby for controversies, Ice-T also advises stars not to “just say something stupid and then back-pedal — if you’re going to say something, stand on it.”
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