Season 26 of Law & Order: SVU kicks off in a little over a month, and due to a recent behind-the-scenes photo shared by Ice-T, the star recently took the opportunity to dismiss claims that the long-running crime-drama has gone "woke." Joining the Dick Wolf production in Season 2, Ice-T has been a staple on SVU for more than 20 years, with his character of Fin Tutuola slowly rising up the ranks from Jr. Detective all the way to Sergeant. Despite his busy television schedule, he’s also managed to keep one foot in features, appearing in numerous movies since landing his role in the series.

T posted a photo on X (formerly Twitter) on August 1 which showed trucks and production trailers on location for SVU. On August 27, his post got a reply from user @NicoleTenev who responded, "Did they write SVU back to normal yet? It started to go woke." It’s a term that gets thrown around a lot these days – mostly by conservatives – that’s used to describe anything that dares to address social and racial issues (such as diversity). According to some, those things shouldn’t exist in the media we consume because movies and TV shows should be an escape from the "real world." Unfortunately, this particular X user seems to have forgotten that SVU has always been "woke," and has regularly tackled the issues that reflect our society.

Ice-T responded to her comment as only he can, reposting her words for all the world to see, while also adding a few of his own. "What the F is Woke?" he asked. "Like I give a F*ck." It’s nice to see that even after all these years, Ice-T is still Ice-T. Check out their exchange below.

Another user tried to give a humorous explanation of what woke meant, saying, "Woke means tearing down my John Wayne statues and forcing me to erect a Spider-Man fountain that sprays gay beer on my lawn that turns it into astroturf." Ice-T seemed to enjoy that one, reposting the response and adding, "That sounds Dope… F John Wayne."

Has Law & Order: SVU Become Woke?

While it’s fair to say that Law & Order: SVU might have lost some of its luster over the years due to the quality of the writing, claiming it’s gone woke is just asinine. As mentioned previously, the series has always tried to blend real world social commentary with fictional storylines that are sometimes ripped right from the headlines to shine a light on the injustices found in government, the justice system, and our everyday lives.

Speaking to Variety last year, Ice-T responded to claims that SVU is nothing more than police propaganda, which is perhaps another contributing factor to fans claiming the series has gone woke. He said that while he understands that side of the argument, his character on the series is the "furthest thing from a cop."

"People have said that our television shows are police propaganda, making the police look good. I understand that argument. The cop I am on our show is an SVU detective…When I got the job at SVU, Dick Wolf said to me, 'Ice, you don’t like cops, right?' I told him that during my criminal past, I didn’t hate cops — they were my opponents. [He asked,] 'But you admit we need them, right?' I said, 'Yeah.' So, Wolf told me to play the cop that we need. And if I play the cop that we need, I won’t have any problems with it."

You can check out Law & Order: SVU in all its woke glory when the series returns for its 26th season on October 3 on NBC and Peacock.