Rapper and actor Ice Cube received an apology from the Chicago Police Department on Tuesday (July 22) after the department issued a community alert on Sunday (July 20), describing a man wanted for several sexual assaults as resembling Ice Cube. CBS’s Chicago affiliate WBBM-TV subsequently aired one of Ice Cube’s videos on Monday (July 21) while reporting on the police issued community alert.
The Chicago Police Department released the following statement according to AP: “We acknowledged the information should not have been on the alert. We took corrective action. We apologize to Ice Cube for what was an honest mistake and came with no ill intent.”
The police are looking for a man suspected of series of sexual assaults in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood. The initial alert described the suspect as a black male in his mid-20s who “resembles the popular rap artist Ice Cube.”
Ice Cube is presently in Chicago filming Barbershop II. His spokesman, Matt Labov, said that the cast saw the news bulletin and video on WBBM-TV. “This is an unfortunate and hurtful situation for Ice Cube,” Labov said. “That his good name ever came up in association with the events currently taking place in Chicago’s Wicker Park area is damaging to Ice Cube as a father, husband, and artist.”
WBBM-TV also apologized to the rapper but their representative, Elizabeth Shapiro reasoned, “Chicago police had issued a community alert saying a suspect in a string of crimes in Wicker Park resembled rap artist Ice Cube. So our information was taken directly from the Chicago Police Department community alert.”
