Law & Order: SVU Star Claps Back Regarding the Reason His Screen Time Was Cut

Actor and rapper Ice-T has played Detective “Fin” Tutuola on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit since 2000. This season marked the return of Kelli Giddish as Detective Amanda Rollins, who left the show as a series regular in December 2022.

Ahead of SVU’s Season 27 January return, Ice-T took to social media to respond to why his screen time was cut and whether it was because of Giddish coming back into the fold. In a post to Threads, Ice-T said, “It’s Crazy how people can Spin anything into Drama…For the record Kelli had nothing to to [stet] with it… That’s my girl… The decision was made higher up.. I have Zero problem with it.. Thanks for all the support but ICE is fine! @NBCSVU_fans.”

Ice-T in the same post, also added a photo of himself and Giddish that was captioned: Law & Order: SVU cut Ice-T’s screen time so they could afford Kelli Giddish’s salary.”

In late November, Ice-T, per TMZ, also confirmed that Giddish had nothing to do with any reduced screen time for his character on the show. “It’s just basically business,” he said. “They brought Kelli back, and at the end of the day, they couldn’t really keep both of us on full-time, as far as budget-wise,” he added. “So they said, Ice, we’ll have you come in and out this year, that way we could bring… Everybody wanted Kelli back, and we’ve got new cops and stuff like that,” he concluded.

Ice-T also reassured his fans that even though his time on screen may be less than folks are used to, he’s “not leaving” SVU. “I’m more concerned with doing Season 28,” he said. “So this year, they said, ‘Ice, we’re gonna work you a little less.’ Everything was cool with me, I understood.”

Ice-T’s Reaction to his Reduced Role

NBC

“I’ve been on this show for 27 years. I’m not gonna say nothing negative about that show,” Ice-T continued. They’ve taken care of me for so long. So I just want to get to Season 28.” His reduced screen time has enabled him to “do other projects,” Ice-T said. He also found it reassuring that fans would miss him if he were gone from the SVU lineup.

“I’m kind of glad the fans are upset,” joked Ice-T. “Because what if I was missing and nobody cared? That would be something to worry about. But the fact that the fans wanted to see a little bit more of Fin, that’s good. But I’m gonna be sprinkled throughout this season,” he said.

Law & Order premiered its Season 27 in September 2025 and began the season with a memorial service for Captain Donald Cragen (Dann Florek). In the episode, Mariska Hargitay’s Olivia Benson is seen attending the service for the captain, saying he was, “the best boss that I ever had. Everything I know about being a captain, I learned from him.”