Metal, Hardcore, Indie, Rock
In July of last year, Ice-T honored ICE with a live performance of Body Count‘s famed 1992 anti-police violence anthem, “Cop Killer“, as per theprp. Ice-T chose to dedicate the song to ICE, initially announcing it as “ICE Killer,” even though the song’s performance mostly stuck to its original lyrics. The event, which took place on July 26, 2025, during the “Vans Warped Tour” at the Shoreline Waterfront in Long Beach, California, was a jab at US Immigration and Customs Enforcement during the height of immigration raids in California.
This month, footage of that previous performance gained popularity on social media in the wake of growing demonstrations against ICE operations and the deadly killings of two American citizens in Minnesota in January. Ice-T discussed the reasons behind that commitment during his appearance on “The Breakfast Club” on January 28. The GRAMMY Award-winning rapper, metal musician, and actor said this in response to a question on whether he thought artists had a duty to discuss political issues.
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…
“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.
The contentious “Cop Killer” performance from the “Vans Warped Tour” is timestamped below. Since that “Vans Warped Tour” visit, Body Count has given one more live performance. On September 20, 2025, they played “Cop Killer” at the Grand Casino Amphitheater in Hinckley, Minnesota, without mentioning ICE.
Ice-T has had an intriguing relationship with the song “Cop Killer” over the years, particularly after spending decades as a detective on “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.”
