Malik Yoba has been a series regular on New York Undercover, Alphas, and, most recently, Empire, but he’s probably best known for a character he only portrayed twice: Ice on Arrested Development. Yoba spoke to the AV Club about Lindsay Bluth Fünke’s favorite bounty hunter/caterer about his career, including when being on Arrested kept him out of the slammer.
The irony was probably lost on the cop.
AVC: Do Arrested Development fans ever approach you?
MY: They do. Man, people love that show. It’s amazing that people still come up to me. That show got me out of trouble with the police once. The cop was a huge fan of it. It was this young dude who looked like he was trying to be a racist cop. He was overzealous and young. I had a taillight out and I didn’t realize it. This was in New York. He was hyper-aggressive and ready to throw me in jail, but when he found out I was Ice on Arrested Development, everything changed. His entire demeanor changed. He went from being an *sshole, super-aggressive cop to a superfan because of Arrested Development.
AVC: He recognized you instantly?
MY: No, he went back to the car and Googled my name. (Via AV Club)
It’s like Franklin’s T-shirt says: “Racist Cops Don’t Care About Black Actors, Unless They Were On Arrested Development.”
(Via AV Club)
