“Anybody coming at me for what I said ain’t ready to do s***…” the actor and rapper said of criticism to his statement.
Ice Cube is among those who are irate after video surfaced of a Monday arrest in Minneapolis where a black man was choked by a white police officer.
Federal authorities are investigating possible civil rights violations; the video shows an officer kneeling on the man’s neck while ignoring his protests that he could not breathe. The man later died.
The officer who kneeled on the man and an unspecified number of others have been placed on paid leave amid the investigation, the Minneapolis StarTribune reported.
The rapper and actor on Tuesday shared his thoughts on the video via social media, asking in one tweet: “How long will we go for Blue on Black Crime before we strike back???”
His statement invoked numerous replies and some criticism. “Anybody coming at me for what I said ain’t ready to do shit …” he replied to one Twitter user.
On Tuesday, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said, according to the StarTribune, “Being black in America should not be a death sentence. For five minutes, we watched a white officer press his knee into a black man’s neck. Five minutes. When you hear someone calling for help, you’re supposed to help. This officer failed in the most basic, human sense. What happened on Chicago and 38th last night is awful. It was traumatic. It serves as a reminder of how far we have to go.”
Around 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, Mayor Frey announced four officers who responded to the call were terminated from the department. “This is the right call,” he said via Twitter.
1:30 p.m.: Updated with the announcement that officers have been fired.
*story by The Hollywood Reporter