Ice-T Saved Former MTV Host’s Life During Gang Encounter at Rap Show

Former MTV host Bill Bellamy shared a new story from Ice-T‘s days as a rapper long before Law & Order: Special Victims Unit earlier this month. Ice-T confirmed the story on Twitter this weekend, sharing the stand-up comedian’s appearance on the YouTube show Forgotten KingzTV. During the show, Bellamy claimed Ice saved his life when the Grape Street Crips attended one of his first-ever shows on the West Coast.

In the set-up to the story, Bellamy said this all went down in October 1993 during a show at The Forum. There were several major rappers who were part of the line-up, including The Notorious B.I.G. and The Wu-Tang Clan. Bellamy hosted and he saw a group of men in the front row wearing purple. Bellamy admitted to not knowing the meaning behind what they wore because he was unfamiliar with West Coast gangs. The men were not really getting his jokes, and one started calling him a “buster homie.” Bellamy was confused, and this kept going on every time he took the stage between acts.

At one point, the man got up and threw water at him and again called him a “buster homie.” Backstage, Ice-T asked him why was dripping with water on his face, so he explained what was going on. Ice-T was not happy and was prepared to defend Bellamy. He said the show was “about bringing everybody together” and Ice-T insisted on confronting the men with Bellamy. The comedian didn’t think this would work, but Ice-T still went out on stage next to Bellamy. Ice-T introduced himself and the crowd went crazy, Bellamy recalled.

“I came here to enjoy a motherf— show,” Bellamy recalled Ice-T yelling to the crowd. “I came out here to show love and we gonna show love to all our brothers out here that’s doing the right thing.” Then, Ice-T spoke directly to the Grape Street Crips members and told them to show Bellamy “some love.” He noted how Bellamy was, at that time, one of the only people at MTV making sure hip-hop videos were shown on the network and he deserved their respect. Since Bellamy got Ice-T’s endorsement, the gang members agreed to respect the comedian for the rest of the show. Ice-T confirmed the story was true by sharing the video on Twitter, simply adding, “Facts.”

Bellamy, 56, hosted MTV Jamz and MTV Beach House, and served as a VJ. He has also starred in dozens of movies and TV shows, including Any Given Sunday, Cousin Skeeter, Castle, Royal Pains, White Colar, Kindergarten Cop 2, and SWAT. He has not appeared on SVU with Ice-T yet though. Ice-T plays Det. Odafin “Fin” Tutuola on SVU, which finishes its 22nd season on Thursday at 9 p.m. ET on NBC.