Just a song? An artist's right to speak is inviolable - so long as his records sell

National Review, August 17, 1992 by Charlton Heston

"I personally would like to blow . . . police stations up. You know what I'm sayin'? If it was up to me, I'd burn the White House down, you know, 'cause I'm an anarchist. I'm ready to do this . . . but some people got to die, you know what I'm sayin'? If you ain't ready to spill no blood, then, you know, get out of here. You know what I'm sayin'?" Ice-T on home video during the L.A. riots, May 3

I'M HERE as a shareholder, but I speak as a private citizen and as the public artist I've been most of my life. I think I understand the rights and responsibilities of both identities.

I'm here to condemn this company's response to the growing clamor across the country against Body Count, the CD Time-Warner released some weeks ago. I'm not talking about Ice-T, the young black performer trying for his 15 minutes of fame. The little he's said about his lyrics has been contradictory. "Aw, that's just black street talk. It don't mean the same to whites." Then again, "I ain't never killed no cop . .. I felt like it a lot."

I condemn the responsible officials in this company. Long after police groups across the country, the President of the United States, members of Congress, and major religious and media figures protested Body Count, Time-Warner began to ship CDs to disc jockeys in miniature black plastic body bags. Isn't that cute? A Time-Warner spokesman called this "a promotional gimmick." Is this the same clever executive who proposed as the cover art on another upcoming album a gunman lurking with an Uzi near the White House, waiting for President Bush?

In the end, of course, the buck stops at the top. At Gerald Levin. In the beginning, he could, probably honestly, have said, "Look, I don't have time to listen to rap lyrics. If some clown in the record division screwed up, we'll deal with it." Instead, since the CD was already successful, he tried to claim the moral high ground with protestations of Time-Warner's respect for the artist's creative freedom. Mr. Levin--come on. I've been doing this for a living all my life. I know, at least as well as you do, that an artist's creative freedom depends on the success of his last work and the demand for his next. All entertainment companies reject, alter, and cancel hundreds of artists' projects each year.

You also claimed the lyrics in Body Count were protected by the First Amendment. I know, at least as well as you do, that the right to free speech is not without limits, both public and private. I'm exercising my right of free speech this very moment, but I know, at least as well as you do, that it'll be a cold day in Hell before I'm offered another picture at Warner's, or get another good review in Time magazine.

Supreme Court Justice Holmes said it: Free speech does not include the right to yell "Fire!" in a crowded theater. The lyrics of "Cop Killer" go a lot further than that. They celebrate the murder of police officers. A year ago, you pulled country singer Holly Dunn's song, "Maybe I Mean Yes," out of release because some groups felt it might encourage date rape. Where was your concern for the rights of artists then, sir? Rape is a terrible crime. So is murder, Mr. Levin.

Let's take a close look at what Body Count really is. You may have read the only quote from the lyrics of "Cop Killer" published so far: "I got my 12-gauge sawed-off; I'm 'bout to bust some shots off; I'm 'bout to dust some cops off." Well, you can handle that, right?

Let me give you a taste of what they can't publish, though Time-Warner did, in this booklet they enclose with the Body Count CD. The song goes on: "I got my brain on hype--tonight'll be your night. Die, die, die pig, die. F--k the police! I know your family's grievin'. F--k 'em!" Catchy little number, isn't it?

Mr. Levin, you say, "Well, that's just fantasy. He never murdered a police officer." Jews and homosexuals are also often attacked, though of course not as frequently as police officers. Let me ask you: If that song were titled "Fag Killer," or if the lyrics went, "Die, die, die kike, die," would you still sell it? It's often been said that if Adolf Hitler came back with a hot movie synopsis, every studio in town would be after it. Would Warner's be among them?

I know, ladies and gentlemen, this is painful. As the dentist says, "Just one more time, it'll hurt a bit, then we're through. Ready?" There's another song on this CD, called "KKK Bitch." It's about girls in a Southern town the Body Count group visited. Here's a taste of the lyrics: "I love my KKK bitch, love it when she s---s me. I love my KKK bitch, love it when she f---s me. I love my KKK bitch, she loves it when I treat her bad, you know what I'm sayin'. So we was down South ... fallin' in love. D-Roc had this Nazi girl, my man Mooseman had a skinhead ... I fell in love with Tipper Gore's two 12-year-old nieces. It was wild, it got even worse. She pushed her butt up against my d--k ... my d--k got hard, entered in her a-s. She said, '0, my God!' So what we really tryin' to say is Body Count loves everybody... Mexican, black, Oriental girls, it really don't matter. If you from Mars and you got a p---y, we will f--k you."