Ice-T thanks his critics for motivating him: 'I eat haters for food'
Ice-T doesn't mind his critics. In fact, he credits them with his success.
The rapper and Law & Order: SVU star, 65, was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Friday. With wife Coco Austin and daughter Chanel by his side, Ice-T (real name: Tracy Lauren Marrow) advised the crowd to use negative energy from "haters" as motivation.
"It’s fuel," Ice-T told Fox News. "I eat haters for food."
The star continued, sharing that he has managed to prevail despite efforts to "cancel" him.
"They've been trying to cancel me for 40 years… I'm difficult to cancel," he continued. "I've already let everybody know all my flaws, all my vices and people rock with it. When someone tells me you can't do it, that means I got to do it."
In a rousing speech from the podium, he went into further detail about the people that got in his way over the years.
"I really want to thank the mother******* haters, cause you really make me get up in the morning and be the best I can be," he shared. "All the naysayers, all the people that wanted to end my career, now I'm on the Walk of Fame. And that's the motivation. You got to let the haters motivate you," Ice-T shared as the crowd roared with applause. "If it wasn't for the haters, I definitely wouldn't have pulled this off, I swear to God. Thank you so much. I'm going to give you so much more to hate in the future, trust me. I love y'all."
One of Ice-T's top critics was actor Charlton Heston, who rallied against the rapper back in the 1990s following the release of “Cop Killer,” his song with his metal band Body Count. Ice-T told Yahoo Music during a 2017 interview that "the world was a lot softer back then.”
“We didn’t have the Internet. People weren’t used to confrontation from artists. They thought records really were gonna cause the downfall of the earth, similar to when rock ’n’ roll first came out," Ice-T explained at the time.
In addition to his wife and daughter, Ice-T was joined by several friends, including rappers Ice Cube, Chuck D, and Law & Order creator Dick Wolf. But it was the speech from his long-time SVU co-star, Mariska Hargitay, in which she called him "the OG of friendship," that really stunned the crowd.
"The reason that you have fame in my heart is because you are the OG of friendship," Hargitay shared from the podium, People reported. "You are my real deal, my true blue, authentic, unshakable friend, and I cannot tell you what that means to me."
"As simple and as deep and as glorious as that is, and I know that you know in your heart and in your marrow how full the word 'friend' is when I say it to you, but I'm going to explain it anyway. You have been such a joy in my life," Hargitay continued. "You are the embodiment of loyalty. You tell the truth. You keep it real."
Hargitay concluded her speech by welcoming Ice-T to the Walk of Fame, where she and her late mother, Jayne Mansfield, already have stars.
"My dear, dear, sweet, wise, brave, unique, fierce, beautiful, precious Ice-T, welcome to this sacred space," she concluded. "My mom and I are happy to have you here."
