Fentanyl ‘Came Out of Nowhere’ Ice-T Says Ahead of New Doc About Drug That’s Claimed the Lives of Mac Miller, Prince, and More
Ice-T is raising awareness about a devastating drug epidemic that has touched the lives of many Americans.
The rapper will host A&E’s upcoming documentary special Fame and Fentanyl, which exposes “the devastating impact of fentanyl on our society and culture.” The two-hour doc dives into real-life stories of addiction and loss, including those of Prince, Angus Cloud, Coolio Tom Petty, Mac Miller, and Michael K. Williams, all of whom died of fentanyl-related causes.
Ice-T has ‘lost people’ to fentanyl
For Ice-T, the message about the dangers of the powerful opiate is personal.
“Fentanyl, for me, came out of nowhere,” he said in a statement. “By the time I learned about the drug, I had already lost people to it. It’s a poison in the drug world, and I wanted to do everything that I could to make people aware of its danger.”
“It’s the deadliest drug epidemic in American history,” one interviewee says in the first trailer for the special.
More than 76,000 Americans died from a synthetic opioid overdose in 2023
In 2023, more than 76,000 Americans died from an overdose of synthetic opioids, including fentanyl, according to the CDC. That number dropped to a little under 50,000 in 2024. But the number is still alarmingly high, and fentanyl is the largest contributor to overdose deaths in the U.S., Reuters reports.
“These are the stories that everyone needs to hear,” Ice-T says in the Fame and Fentanyl teaser.
In September 2022, the Law & Order: SVU spoke out after rapper Coolio died at age 59 of what was later determined to be an overdose of fentanyl.
“Holly Shit!!! I was just talking to him 2 weeks ago!” he wrote on Instagram. “He was performing in Europe… This is so Fd up….”
Former MLB player Sean Burroughs; rapper Lil Peep; former Wilco member Jay Bennett; D.H. Peligro of The Dead Kennedys; and Eight Is Enough actor Adam Rich are among the other well-known individuals whose deaths have been linked to fentanyl. In July, Teen Mom alum Whitney Purvis was arrested on involuntary manslaughter charges after authorities said she supplied “Tranq – a combination of xylazine and fentanyl – to a man who died of an overdose.
A highly potent opioid, fentanyl is used in medical settings to treat severe and chronic pain, notes Yale Medicine. But in recent years, illicitly manufactured fentanyl has entered the market. It is often mixed with other drugs or made into pills designed to mimic prescription medications like Valium or OxyContin. In other cases, people use the drug deliberately because it provides an intense high. But because it is so strong, there’s a high risk of overdose.
Fame and Fentanyl airs Monday, August 25 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on A&E.
How to get help: In the U.S., contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration helpline at 1-800-662-4357.
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