Ice T issues scathing response to Law & Order: SVU being dubbed ‘woke’
Rapper and actor Ice T plays Fin Tutuola in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. (NBC/Getty)
Rapper and actor Ice T has absolutely no time for fans of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit claiming the show has gone “woke”.
The actor, born Tracy Lauren Marrow, has starred as detective Fin Tutuola on NBC’s Emmy-winning procedural drama since 2000, making him the show’s longest-serving male star.
After sharing a photo from the set of the upcoming 26th season on X/Twitter, he faced a response from an unhappy fan who decided that Law & Order: SVU had suddenly gone woke.
“Did they write SVU back to normal yet? It started to go woke,” the viewer asked.
In a scathing response that has since gone viral, Ice T replied: “What the F is woke? Like I give a f**k.”
When another of the star’s followers tried to explain, albeit in jest, what woke meant, Ice T had another reply ready to go.
“Woke means tearing down my John Wayne statues and forcing me to erect a Spider-Man fountain that sprays gay beer on my lawn that turns it into AstroTurf,” the fan joked.
“That sounds dope… F John Wayne,” Ice T responded.
Given that Law & Order: SVU is a detective series, it deals with a broad range of social issues, including domestic abuse, sexual assault, male rape and spiking.
When pressed by a fellow viewer about what exactly is “woke” about the show now, the original poster didn’t have much to say.
“It got to a point where it was ridiculous. I watched SVU from the beginning. It changed,” they answered.
The show first aired in 1999 and has brought in more diversity, in both its victims and detectives, as time has passed, including introducing more Black and LGBTQ+ leads, and better portrayals of how trans victims of crime should be treated.
If anything, the series has faced criticism in recent years for having too few LGBTQ+ characters, following the departure of the force’s only queer detective Kat Tamin in 2021.
Ice T went on to insist: “I stay outta political s**t. Like I said before… The Blue vs The Red… It’s gang-bangin to me.”
He has previously admitted finding his TV role more difficult in recent years because the show could be seen as “making the police look good” in the face of high-profile cases of brutality and targeting of ethnic minorities.
Season 26 of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is due to air next year and older episodes are available to stream on platforms including Hulu, Apple TV and Prime Video. Season 25 is airing on Sky Witness in the UK.
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