Rapper and actor Ice-T was first known for penning the song “Cop Killer.”
Then he became known for playing a cop on TV.
If that’s not some cognitive dissonance for you, he’s now just a cop disrespecter who managed to net himself an impressive ticket haul for going off on a police officer who stopped him for a pretty blatant traffic violation.
In an 11-minute video from an officer’s body cam that was recorded in May but just hit social media on Friday, Ice-T — not to be confused with rapper Ice Cube, who was in NWA with Dre and Eazy-E — had been pulled over in New Jersey for a missing front license plate on his Porsche.
(You don’t have to be Ice Cube to take home that sweet “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” money, although the level of respect does drop a bit.)
It turns out that the registration on the Porsche was expired — and had been since 2021.
On the video, Ice-T — driver’s license name Tracy Lauren Marrow — told a Hudson County, New Jersey, sheriff’s deputy that he was “headed to the DMV, this is where I’m going to get all my registration and everything straight on the car.”
“Do you have an appointment?” the officer asked.
“I don’t need one. They know me,” Ice-T responded, claiming the DMV’s system was down the day before. His license was also expired.
Was the deputy in the right?
OK, as someone who has dealt with the DMV in New Jersey — which is actually called the MVC, or Motor Vehicle Commission, in the state, but we’ll let that technicality slide — let me inform you that it doesn’t work like an exclusive nightclub or restaurant.
You can’t just show up there and say, “Yeah, I don’t have an appointment, but do you guys know who I am? I’m Ice-T. No, no, not the one that worked with Dr. Dre, the other one.”
You need an online appointment and proof of it. And, by the by, these appointments are absurdly easy to make, just in case you thought that this was really the day he was going to fix his 3-year-old (!!) car registration issues and driver’s license concerns.
Ice-T then said he could park the car and walk to the DMV — which was apparently nearby. The deputy asked for Ice-T’s keys, which is when things got really intense.
“You’re not going to tow my f***ing vehicle,” Ice-T said.
“Give me your keys right now, I’m going to tow your vehicle,” the deputy responded. “Try to be more respectful with me, I’m going to try to respect you the same way.”
Things got worse from there.
“If I’m not under arrest, I’m getting out of the car,” Ice-T said and confronting the deputy.
“Give me my paperwork you f**king a**hole,” he said. “Give me my f**king paperwork!”
When the cop insisted Ice-T was being the “a**hole” — which he was –the rapper basically said, “no, you” and took out his camera to start videoing the stop.
“Let me start recording your dumb a**,” he said.
WARNING: The following video contains graphic language that some viewers will find offensive.
The officer called for backup and the sergeant told Ice-T that, while he tried to get the deputy to only write two tickets, the call was with the officer he was busy confronting, who wrote four. Whoops.
In a small win for the rapper, though, the vehicle was not towed.
At the end of the encounter, the deputy warned him to “just show some respect.”
“I don’t have to,” Ice-T said.
I suppose you don’t have to, no — but then, given that you’re somewhat famous, you run the risk of going viral with a video like this.
All in all, his acting is far more convincing on “Law & Order.” He even plays like a cop who follows and respects the law.
Judging by his reaction to getting very predictable tickets, that’s quite an act of thespian fortitude for him.
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