Last July Ice-T dedicated a live performance of Body Count‘s infamous 1992 anti-police brutality anthem, the highly controversial “Cop Killer“ to ICE. While the performance of the song remained true its original lyrics for the most part, Ice-T opted to dedicate the song to ICE, initially introducing it as ‘ICE Killer‘.
That jab at the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement was made during the height of the immigration raids being conducted in California, with the show taking place July 26th, 2025 at the ‘Vans Warped Tour‘ at the Shoreline Waterfront in Long Beach, CA.
Footage of that past performance recently went viral this month, gaining traction on social media in the wake of rising protests of ICE activity and the fatal ICE-involved shootings of two U.S. citizens in the Minnesota this January.
Appearing on ‘The Breakfast Club‘ today, January 28th, Ice-T addressed what prompted that dedication. After being asked if he felt artists have a responsibility to speak on political issues, the GRAMMY Award-winning rapper/metal musician/actor stated [transcribed by theprp.com]:
“No, I think [the] only people that should speak on issues are the ones that really carry it with them daily, if that’s who you are. If it’s not, don’t do it for publicity, don’t do it for hype, don’t let your publicist tell you, ‘speak on this topic.’ ‘Cause if you’re not educated enough to speak on it, you’re gonna end up being caught out there.
I have political things I think about. Now when I did that, that didn’t happen just recently; that happened when we played in L.A. at the ‘Warped Tour‘. And that was the moment, when I was there, ICE was active out there. So it’s like I’m in the midst of ICE raids and stuff like that. I’m in front of an L.A. audience and it just came up.
I didn’t know I was gonna do it. I didn’t know I was gonna do it. It’s time to play ‘Cop Killer’ and then my brain just said, ‘Do ‘ICE Killer, you know? And it went over, but of course, when the girl [Renée Good] got killed, they bring that press to the front. They had me in the news fighting with the police and it was two years old. When a cop pulled me over and I got a ticket and it made it to the news. That was two years old. So anything you see on the internet, you don’t really know how it’s being sent to you…”
Ice-T further went on to say:
“You know ‘ICE Killer,’ ‘Cop Killer’ it’s really protest. I’m just protesting. Like I said man, I think we’re headed in some very ugly terrain and black people really ain’t got nothing to do with it. It’s bad. I think the moment somebody shoots an ICE agent, it’s gonna get bad.”
You can find the controversial ‘Vans Warped Tour‘ performance of “Cop Killer” timestamped below. Body Count have performed one further live show since that ‘Vans Warped Tour‘ appearance, playing “Cop Killer” without mention of ICE at the Grand Casino Amphitheater in Hinckley Minnesota back on September 20th., 2025.
“Cop Killer” is a song Ice-T has had an interesting relationship with over the years, especially after playing a detective on ‘Law & Order: Special Victims Unit‘ for decades. Discussing the track back in 2020, he explained:
“I never killed no cop. I’ve written better songs that are more on point with what I believe today. I was a little more radical back then. ‘No Lives Matter‘ addresses my feelings at this moment. You got to remember, 30-years-ago Ice is different than 62-year-old Ice.”
