The song set off a storm of protest from law enforcement groups. At the annual meeting of Time Warner at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, 1,100 shareholders as well as police representatives and their spokesman, Charlton Heston, denounced Time Warner executives in a five-hour session on the album and its content. Heston noted that the compact disc had been shipped to radio stations in small replicas of body bags. One police officer said the company had "lost its moral compass, or never had it." Others said that Time Warner seemed to cultivate these types of artists. One shareholder claimed that Time Warner was always "pushing the envelope" with its artists, such as Madonna with her Sex book, and its products, such as the film The Last Temptation of Christ, which drew large protests from religious groups. Another shareholder pointed out that Gerald Levin, thenTime Warner president, promised a stuttering-awareness group that the cartoon character Porky Pig would be changed after they made far fewer vocal protests.

Levin responded that the album would not be pulled. He defended it as "depicting the despair and anger that hang in the air of every American inner city, not advocating attacks on police." Levin announced Time Warner would sponsor a TV forum for artists, law enforcement officials, and others to discuss such topics as racism and free speech. At the meeting, Levin also announced a four-for-one stock split and a 12\% increase in Time Warner's dividend.

Time Warner went on to make a pledge to use the controversy to create a forum for discussion of the issues in order to deal with the tensions that Ice-T's song caused to surface. Time Warner also pledged to continue its commitment to truth and free expression for the sake of the country's future. 150 By August 1992, protests against the song had grown and sales suffered. Ice-T made the decision himself to withdraw "Cop Killer" from the Body Count album. Time Warner asked music stores to exchange the Body Count CDs for ones without "Cop Killer." Some store owners refused, saying there were much worse records. Former Geto Boys member Willie D said Ice-T's free speech rights were violated. "We're living in a communist country and everyone's afraid to say it," he said.
Following the flap over the song, the Time Warner board met to establish general company policies to bar distribution of music deemed inappropriate. By February 1993, Time Warner and Ice-T agreed that Ice-T would leave the Time Warner label because of "creative differences." The split came after Time Warner executives objected to Ice-T's proposed cover for his new album, which showed black men attacking whites. In an ironic twist, Ice-T became a co-star on the NBC television series Law and Order: Special Victims Unit as Detective Odafin "Fin" Tutuola, partner of Richard Belzer's character, Detective John Munch. \({ }^{151}\)......................

Discussion Questions 1. Was Ice-T's song an exercise of artistic freedom or sensationalism for profit?
2. Would you have taken Levin's position?
3. Evaluate the First Amendinent argument.
4. Would shareholder objections influence your response to such a controversy?
5. What was Time Warner's purpose in firing Morris? By November 1995, Time Warner's Levin fired Michael Fuchs. What message is there for executives in controversial products?
6. Offer your thoughts on lce-T's role as a police officer and his acceptance by the public.
7. Rapper Lil Wayne used lyrics from the Rolling Stones' 1965 song "Play with Fire" in his "Playing with Fire" song that was part of his The Carter III \(C D\). Abkco Music filed an infringement suit against Lil Wayne for using the lyrics after it had denied him permission. Abkco was going to grant permission to Lil until it read all of the song's lyrics, described as "explicit, sexist, and offensive." The suit was settled in an interesting manner. Abkco, under the terms of the settlement, has required Lil Wayne to remove the song from the \(C D\) and from iTunes. The Rolling Stones didn't want the money-they didn't want to be associated with Lil Wayne. Are the Rolling Stones controlling artistic expression? Is this the same right exercised by Time Warner, but the other way? \({ }^{157}\).