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Law & Order: Special Victims Unit star Ice T has shut down a fan’s claim that the long-running police procedural has gone “woke.”
66-year-old Ice T, real name Tracy Lauren Marrow, has played Detective Odafin “Fin” Tutuola on the NBC series for over two decades, having joined in its second season in 2001.
He will return for its 26th season premiering this October. Celebrating being back on set, he posted a behind-the-scenes production photo on X in early August, alongside the caption: “Seems like everyone is at the OLYMPICS…. I’m at Work. SVU on location. Season26.”
Weeks later, on Tuesday (August 27), a fan reacted to his tweet, writing: “Did they write SVU back to normal yet? It started to go woke.”
The actor and rapper responded tersely, saying: “What the F is Woke? lol Like I give a F***.”
Created by Dick Wolf, Law & Order: SVU first debuted in 1999. It was the first spin-off in the franchise following the original Law & Order, which has spawned an additional six shows: Organized Crime, Criminal Intent, Trial by Jury, True Crime, Law & Order: LA and Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent.
Law & Order, which premiered in 1990 is preparing to enter its 24th season this fall. It took a 12-year break following its 20th season in 2010 before rebooting in 2022 with its 21st season.
SVU is led by mainstay Mariska Hargitay, who plays Olivia Benson, a New York Police Department detective who investigates crimes of sexual nature.
Over the years, the show has cycled through several cast members, including Christopher Meloni, the late Richard Belzer, Dann Florek, BD Wong and Tamara Tunie.
Hargitay, Ice T, Kelli Giddish, Peter Scanavino and Octavio Pisano currently make up the main cast.
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In a July 2023 interview with Variety, Ice T reflected on his role as Detective Fin, clarifying: “I’m not a cop. I’m the furthest thing from a cop.
“People have said that our television shows are police propaganda, making the police look good. I understand that argument,” he acknowledged.
“The cop I am on our show is an SVU detective… When I got the job at SVU, Dick Wolf said to me, ‘Ice, you don’t like cops, right?’ I told him that during my criminal past, I didn’t hate cops – they were my opponents. [He asked,] ‘But you admit we need them, right?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ So, Wolf told me to play the cop that we need. And if I play the cop that we need, I won’t have any problems with it.”
