Thursday, October 13, 2005

We're a looooooong way from New Jack City

It's ironic that Ice-T, who was once the subject of a fierce controversy over his song "Cop Killer" back in 1992, has now become primarily known for playing a police officer in Law & Order: SVU. Granted, his song was about bad and dirty cops, like the ones who beat the living crap of Rodney King. And you could argue that his current role is an effort to portray the good cops that do exist. Still, it's funny that younger viewers (if there are younger viewers who watch SVU) may only know him as a cop from the show.

But that irony I accepted years ago when I first started watching the show. What has ... ahem, struck me more about him lately is how, on the show, he gets sucker punched on a regular basis. OK, I guess twice is not technically a regular basis, but it still stands out. On last Tuesday's new episode, he's punched good and hard by a teenage white boy accused of rape. That, I suppose, isn't too embarrassing. But last season, in the episode "Weak", he was back-of-the hand pimp slapped by ... Amanda Plummer?!?!?! "Weak" is right!

How embarrassing an image is that for a rapper? Imagine if 50 Cent got his ass handed to him by Kate Moss, or perhaps if Jay-Z got laid out by Bjork.

But Ice-T is primarily an actor now, so this kind of stuff is not as important. Besides, as an actor, he has to do things like this once in a while. The rest of time, he's getting tough with perps and slamming them into lockers like the other TV cops do. You keep it up, Ice! We're rooting for you!

And keep an eye out for that Assistant D.A. Novak. She might just mess you up if you're not careful.

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