Ice-T Updates Name of ’90s Protest Anthem ‘Cop Killer’ to Comment on ICE Violence

Ice-T has broken his silence on modernizing the lyrics to “Cop Killer” amid the rise of ICE violence.

During an interview with The Breakfast Club on Wednesday, Jan. 28, the rapper and actor spoke about changing the lyrics from “Cop Killer” to “ICE Killer” during a Warped Tour performance in Los Angeles July 2025.

“When I did that, that didn’t happen just recently; that happened in L.A. when we played the Warped Tour,” Ice-T, 67, said of the set at the music festival. “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.”

He added: “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.”

Ice-T was referring to the death of Renee Good, who was was fatally shot after a group of people allegedly began blocking ICE officials during an immigration enforcement operation on Jan. 7.

At the time, Good was behind the wheel of her car after dropping off her youngest of three children at school in Minneapolis.

Ice-T then referenced a time when he was pulled over in May 2024 by the police for expired license plates and registration, per unearthed footage shared in January 2025 from TMZ.

“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,” he said.

Ice-T then noted the real meaning of his lyric change to “Cop Killer.”

“You know ‘ICE Killer,’ ‘Cop Killer’ it’s really protest,” the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit star explained. “I’m just protesting.”

Added Ice-T, “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.”

“Cop Killer,” an anti-police protest anthem, was released by his heavy metal band Body Count in 1992 when Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush were running for president, per the ACLU.org.

Tensions in Minneapolis have risen following the death of Good as Alex Pretti became the second U.S. citizen to be killed by federal forces in Minnesota this month.

In a statement to PEOPLE, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin previously said that U.S. Border Patrol officers were carrying out “a targeted operation” against “an illegal alien wanted for violent assault” when they encountered Pretti on Jan. 24.

She claimed the man, later identified as Pretti, a lawful gun owner with a permit, “approached” officers while armed with a handgun and “violently resisted” as they attempted to disarm him.

However, video footage shared by witnesses at the scene contradicted the DHS’ claims about the fatal shooting, including one that Pretti appeared to not be armed at the time of his killing. Other individuals said he was helping a woman from the ground just moments before he was pepper-sprayed and shot multiple times.

Later, his family released a statement slamming the agency’s account of the shooting as “sickening lies.”