Twitter users reacted after rapper and “Law and Order: SVU” star Ice-T joked on the platform Thursday that he had been robbed at a gas station — by the gas pump itself.
“I was robbed at a gas station in NJ last night. After my hands stopped trembling..I managed to call the cops and they were quick to respond and calmed me down….. My money is gone.. the police asked me if I knew who did it..I said yes.. it was pump number 9…” Ice-T joked, referencing soaring gas prices in New Jersey and around the country.
I was robbed at a gas station in NJ last night. After my hands stopped trembling..I managed to call the cops and they were quick to respond and calmed me down….. My money is gone.. the police asked me if I knew who did it..I said yes.. it was pump number 9…
— ICE T (@FINALLEVEL) March 24, 2022
The tweet has since exploded in popularity. As of the publishing of this piece, it has been retweeted more than 85,000 times and “liked” more than 605,000 times.
Gas prices soared earlier this month to a record high, as The Daily Wire reported. The national average climbed to $4.104 per gallon, according to GasBuddy, breaking the record average price set all the way back in 2008 in the midst of the Great Recession. Gas prices have since slid downward. According to AAA, the current average price sits at $4.236 per gallon, down from the record national average of $4.331 set on March 11. Prices in the state of New Jersey are currently about $4.201 on average.
Twitter users, including a number of prominent conservatives, reacted to the tweet, with many laughing along with the rapper’s “dad joke,” while others commented that the tweet was an indicator of bigger issues around inflation and the economy.
“I’m so dead on this one….I was robbed as well,” actor Neil Brown Jr. replied.
I’m so dead on this one….I was robbed as well. https://t.co/Oim7zF4IB2
— Neil Brown, jr (@NeilBrownJr) March 24, 2022
“Now you know NOBODY is robbing Ice T except a gas pump!” lawyer and writer Exavier Pope tweeted in reply.
Now you know NOBODY is robbing Ice T except a gas pump! https://t.co/7Lr3PBKDX5
— 𝐄𝐱𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐨𝐩𝐞 (@exavierpope) March 24, 2022
“Can’t wait for legendary gangster rapper Ice T’s forthcoming album ‘Nice To Meet You, Hungry, I’m Dad’” rap group Clipping joked.
Can’t wait for legendary gangster rapper Ice T’s forthcoming album “Nice To Meet You, Hungry, I’m Dad” https://t.co/2atb9GoXoS
— clipping. (@clppng) March 24, 2022
“Now imagine an average middle class person having to do this week after week,” conservative activist Ned Ryun tweeted.
Haha! Now imagine an average middle class person having to do this week after week. https://t.co/3FwzTUM0bC
— Ned Ryun (@nedryun) March 24, 2022
“Suspend the gas tax and move to energy independence,” California State Assembly candidate Suzette Valladares wrote. “It doesn’t have to be like this.”
Suspend the gas tax and move to energy independence. It doesn’t have to be like this 👇🏽 https://t.co/gLDW8lgUnQ
— Suzette Valladares (@suzettemartinez) March 24, 2022
One user thought the rapper’s complaints were insignificant, and responded with a gas station charging 2.66 euros per liter, which roughly translates to about $11.40 per gallon.
Bitch please https://t.co/pFVsTfUa7p pic.twitter.com/7eu2ZVb32h
— cronico (@ipnagogico) March 24, 2022
Ice-T was only joking about pain at the pump from rising prices, but criminals have already begun to take advantage of the recent surge in prices. The Daily Wire reported last week that thieves stole hundreds of gallons of gasoline from a station in North Carolina after the station closed for the night. The thieves employed a device typically used to calibrate gas pumps, allowing them to pump gas without charging. Within minutes, dozens of other people began lining up to take the gas from the pumps. The thieves stole almost 400 gallons of gasoline, worth about $1600, from the station in a matter of minutes.
At the same time, authorities in Florida arrested 7 men in connection with a series of thefts from stations in central Florida. Police arrested the first group of three men last Wednesday. The men used counterfeit credit cards and gas bladders to steal thousands of gallons of gas and allegedly resell it. Police then arrested two pairs of men at separate stations who were stealing gas using devices to alter the gas pumps.