Ice-T says he 'never expected' deaths of late friends Coolio, Michael K. Williams

Ice-T lost his friends Coolio and Michael K. Williams to drug overdoses in the span of a year, forcing him to have a reality check about drug use. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, he said their deaths made him realize how dangerous drugs can be.

“I don’t do drugs, but I never expected it,” he said. “When it hit Coolio and it hit Mike, that was the nail in the coffin. That’s when you go, ‘Yo, this s*** is real.’ You know what I’m saying? It’s real.”

Williams died in September 2021 after consuming fentanyl-laced heroin. Coolio passed away in September 2022 due to the effects of fentanyl, heroin and methamphetamine.

Ice-T further discusses drugs, more specifically fentanyl, in the trailer for the Fame and Fentanyl documentary, premiering Monday on A&E.

“Everyone knows someone who has fallen victim to fentanyl,” he says in the doc, for which he serves as host and executive producer. “These are the stories that everyone needs to hear.”