Law & Order: Special Victims Unit star Ice-T brushed off British actress Tracy-Ann Oberman, who called him “racist” on Twitter. Oberman later deleted her tweet and apologized, revealing that her outrage was meant for someone else. The former EastEnders actress meant to tweet her anger at Ice Cube, who came under fire earlier last weekend for sharing an anti-Semitic meme.
In her original message, Oberman called Ice-T an “out and out racist,” adding, “He’s been exposed and I hope he gets called out by his contemporaries *deadening silence.*” Another Twitter user called out Oberman for her statement, catching Ice-T’s attention.
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Who the F is @TracyAnnO ?? . I have absolutely no idea who she isโฆ. https://t.co/OLbUVn9lF8
โ ICE T (@FINALLEVEL) June 11, 2020
Oberman deleted the message and apologized. “Sorry for tweeting about you, I accidentally typed Ice-T, not Ice Cube wasn’t concentrating. Happy to set the record straight [Ice-T]… I know what it’s like to get messages aimed at someone else,” she wrote. She later added another tweet, calling the incident a lesson to “don’t tweet and walk” at the same time. “You never know where your finger will end up,” she added.
On Saturday, Ice Cube shared a section of an offensive mural that originated in the U.K. “Fโ THE NEW NORMAL UNTIL THEY FIX THE OLD NORMAL!” the rapper wrote alongside the meme, which includes the phrase “All we have to do is stand up and their little game is over.” Even after the instant outrage that tweet inspired, Ice Cube shared an offensive version of the Star of David. He has also shared photos of Egyptian statues linked to Russian propaganda, notes The Daily Beast.
Since George Floyd’s death on May 25, Ice-T has stood in solidarity with the protests of police brutality and racial inequality across the country. He has retweeted signs and has reminded fans he has spent his entire career speaking out against injustice. However, he is one of the stars of Law & Order: SVU and has played Detective Fin Tutuola for two decades. Ice-T defended the show, noting that they do mostly focus on crime involving rapists and pedophiles.
“It’s a dilemma. I understand that, but I think that this moment will create new writers that write different stories,” Ice-T told The Washington Post this week. “I mean you know I don’t write Law and Order stories; I just act them. But there have been times when they’ve sent me lines and I’m like, ‘I ain’t saying that.’ Sometimes the writers don’t even know they’re saying something that’s not okay.”