Ice-T’s tweaking the lyrics of Body Count’s politically-charged “Cop Killer” to “ICE Killer” during a Warped Tour performance last July was by pure instinct.
Ice joined The Breakfast Club on Wednesday (Jan. 28), where he explained modernizing the title of Body Count’s 1992 controversial anthem to fit the political climate targeting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.
“When I did that, that didn’t happen just recently; that happened in L.A. when we played the Warped Tour,” he said. “When I was there, ICE was active out there. I’m in the midst of ICE raids. I’m in front of an L.A. audience and it just came up.”
Ice continued: “I didn’t know I was gon’ do it. It’s time to play ‘Cop Killer’ and my brain just said, ‘Do ‘Ice Killer.” But of course, when the girl [Renee 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 it made it to the news.”
The Law & Order SVU star is referring to the death of Renee Good, who was shot and killed by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer on Jan. 7 while behind the wheel after dropping off her youngest of three children at school in Minneapolis.
“You know ‘ICE Killer,’ ‘Cop Killer’ it’s really protest,” Ice-T explained. “I’m just protesting. Like I said, I think we’re headed in some very ugly terrain and Black people ain’t got nothing to do with it. It’s bad. I think the moment somebody shoots an ICE agent, it’s gon’ get bad.”
Tensions in Minneapolis were raised over the weekend when two federal agents fired shots that killed 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti on Jan. 24, according to the Associated Press. The confrontation began when Pretti attempted to help a woman thrown to the ground by an ICE agent. He was wrestled to the ground by half a dozen officers and struggled to stand back up. Pretti, who was licensed to carry a firearm in public, was relieved of a gun in a side holster by an officer and fatally shot 10 times by two others while on his knees. Members of President Trump’s administration initially labeled Pretti a “domestic terrorist” intent on killing ICE agents, but footage from multiple verified sources appears to contract the administration’s version of events. An initial report from the Department of Homeland Security also seems to confirm that Pretti was not brandishing his legal firearm or attacking officers at any point during the fatal altercation.
TMZ caught up with Ice-T out and about in New York City on Tuesday (Jan. 27), where he issued a warning for those joining the protests against the immigration raids. “Stand strong and stay out the way,” he said. “These cats will kill you.”
According to The Guardian, at least eight people have been killed by ICE agents or killed in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in 2026.
Watch the clip of Ice-T below.