Following its release, the song was met with opposition, with critics ranging from President
George H. W. Bush to various law enforcement agencies, with demands for the song's withdrawal from commercial availability, citing concerns of promoting
anti-police sentiment. Ice-T defended the song's lyrics, as did other proponents who did not believe that the song posed any risk and supported its release and sale.
Criticism and controversy The Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas called for a boycott of all Time Warner products in order to secure the removal of the song and album from stores. Within a week, they were joined by police organizations across the nation. Some critics argued that the song could cause crime and violence. Dennis R. Martin, the former president of the
National Association of Chiefs of Police, argued:
Defense of the song Others defended the album and cited the fact that Ice-T had sympathetically portrayed a police officer in the 1991 film
New Jack City. Many people from the music world and other fields were supportive of the song. For example, in response to Dennis Martin's criticism, Mark S. Hamm and Jeff Ferrell argued: Ice-T stated of the song, "I'm singing in the first person as a character who is fed up with police brutality. I ain't never killed no cop. I felt like it a lot of times. But I never did it. If you believe that I'm a cop killer, you believe
David Bowie is an
astronaut." In a July 1992 editorial in
The Wall Street Journal defending his company's involvement with the song, Time Warner co-CEO
Gerald M. Levin repeated this defense, writing that rather than "finding ways to silence the messenger", critics and listeners should be "heeding the anguished cry contained in his message". The
National Black Police Association opposed the boycott of Time Warner and the attacks on "Cop Killer", identifying police brutality as the cause of much anti-police sentiment, and proposed the creation of independent civilian review boards "to scrutinize the actions of our law enforcement officers" as a way of ending the provocations that caused artists such as Body Count "to respond to actions of police brutality and abuse through their music.... Many individuals of the law enforcement profession do not want anyone to scrutinize their actions, but want to scrutinize the actions of others." In his autobiography, Heston wrote that he considered "KKK Bitch" "even more disgusting" and that he had tried to persuade the
National Organization for Women to join a protest against its mentions of sex with 12-year-old girls, but that the group did not show interest. At a
Beverly Hills press conference to announce a change in policy, Ice-T began by presenting almost 40 minutes of a video documentary on the
civil-rights movement before he spoke. He announced the withdrawal of the song from future copies of the album. Time Warner announced that it would recall copies with "Cop Killer" included, which sparked panic buying of the album. Death threats were sent to Warner Bros. Records executives, and some
stockholders threatened to disassociate themselves from the company.
Commentary on the decision The Source magazine, which was central to American hip-hop at the time, dubbed the decision "the beginning of the end of rap music", viewing it as a gateway to widespread censorship of hip-hop. An editorial by Reginald Dennis cast doubt on Ice-T's statement that it was his decision to withdraw the song.
The Source became more critical of Ice-T in subsequent months, writing that he had avoided an interview on the subject in October and then awarding him the "Ross Perot Award", which implied that he had withdrawn the song for business reasons. Ice-T responded by criticizing
The Source in his song "It's On". In his 2011 autobiography, he wrote that
Source magazine had constantly criticized him for his decision to remove the track. Warner Bros. Records chairman
Mo Ostin said in a 1994 interview with the
Los Angeles Times, "[Time Warner] got so thin-skinned after the incident at the shareholders' meeting. In the end, Ice-T decided to leave because he could not allow tampering with his work. And I can't blame him, considering the climate." Expressing regret at the circumstances leading to Ice-T's departure, Ostin praised him as "a terrific artist who spoke the truth". ==Later years==