Ice-T is making headlines again for his sharp online banter, this time for shooting down a complaint made by an online troll regarding “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.”
The “SVU” star, who’s played Detective Odafin Tutuola in the series for nearly 25 years, was apparently not having it when one conservative X user replied to a month-old post of the rapper and actor on set, writing, “Did they write SVU back to normal yet? It started to go woke.”
“What the F is Woke? lol Like I give a F**k,” Ice-T, set to reprise his role in an upcoming 26th season of the show, wrote in response, prompting praise from fans.
The allegation that the NBC crime drama was “going woke” mirrors countless conservative gripes with media, and its use of plotlines and characters which they argue increasingly center diversity.
The series, which has famously centered on police investigating sexually-based crimes for all 25 of its seasons, has been running since 1999. Conservative fans picked apart one episode in particular on fan forums and YouTube videos back in January, blasting the portrayal of a crime victim’s nuanced response to the justice system and the biases within it as “absurd.”
But the brief response from the actor, who has appeared in more than 450 episodes within the “Law & Order” universe, is yet another example of the backlash against an “anti-woke crusade” led by right-wing politicians.
“Woke is everything the right doesn’t like,” one X user explained to Ice-T.