North Steamed at Ice T : He Wants Time Warner to Face Sedition Charges Over Rap Song

Oliver L. North, the former National Security Council aide who played a key role in the Iran-Contra affair, on Wednesday joined the growing opposition to rapper Ice T’s controversial “Cop Killer” song, calling on governors in all 50 states to bring criminal proceedings against Time Warner Inc. for distributing the record.

North, president of the Washington-based foundation Freedom Alliance, said he is asking the 120,000 members of his conservative group to petition the states to file sedition charges against Time Warner for selling the rap-metal song, which North believes advocates the murder of police.

The 48-year-old retired Marine officer also said that he has hired anti-obscenity crusader Jack Thompson, the Coral Gables, Fla., attorney who initiated a legal battle against the rap group 2 Live Crew in 1989, to represent the Freedom Alliance at Time Warner’s shareholders’ meeting July 16 at the Regent Beverly Wilshire in Beverly Hills.

“There are many others who have labeled Time Warner’s distribution of this sociopathic song as ethically wrong,” said Thompson, who will speak at the convention as a proxy for a Freedom Alliance shareholder. “But what we are saying is that this is criminal activity on the part of Time Warner conducted by those at the highest levels of this irresponsible corporate entity.

“I have advised Col. North, and he agrees, that the people who run Time Warner are violating state sedition, anti-anarchy, anti-civil disorder and anti-incitement-to-riot statutes.”

Ice T, whose “Body Count” album has sold an estimated 20,000 copies a week in the United States since the “Cop Killer” controversy broke, was unavailable for comment.

Officials of Time Warner, who have defended the album on First Amendment grounds, declined comment.

So far, the New York media giant seems to have been unaffected by the boycott. Its stock hit a 1992 high of $112.87 Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange, largely due to the success of “Batman Returns,” which has surpassed $100 million at the box office.

North added his voice to a growing number of public figures who have criticized Time Warner’s affiliation with the Ice T song, including President George Bush, Vice President Dan Quayle, members of Congress and city and state politicians and police groups across the country that have called for a boycott of the media giant.

The Combined Law Enforcement Assn. of Texas--which issued the boycott call June 10--has threatened to stage a protest outside Time Warner’s shareholders’ meeting in Beverly Hills unless the company dissociates itself from the song and apologizes to officers nationwide.

North announced his support of the Time Warner boycott in a letter going out today to his group’s membership, a copy of which was obtained by The Times.

“Here’s the situation,” wrote North, who also owns a Virginia firm called Guardian Technology International that sells bulletproof vests to police officers. “Every day the police risk their lives for us. Our violence-laden cities, already dangerous, are now much more so because of the grossly irresponsible decision by a giant media company to deliberately stir up hatred and incite violence against the men and women in blue.”