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The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is demanding a public apology from the Fox Broadcasting Company after the network aired a special about the murders of Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G.that misidentified one of their employees,according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Who Shot Biggie & Tupac aired Sundayand used a photo of LASD Commander Steven D. Katz instead of Steve Katz, the Los Angeles Police Department’s lead detective on the Biggie case. “The segment defamed Katz by repeatedly showing his photograph and expressing through graphics, an indication of ‘disgrace and outrage’ into the handling of the case,” the LASD said. While the LASD told The Hollywood Reporter thatthey were aware of an apology from the special’s production company, Critical Content, they still wanted one from Fox as well.
Per the LASD, the photo mix-up also led the special to “erroneously depict” the department and Steven D. Katz as part of the Biggie investigation, “indicating several times through graphics and statements that he was the ‘Lead Investigator.’” Additionally, the LASD took issue with comments from the special’s hosts, Ice-T and Soledad O’Brien. The LASD accused the pair of making “derogatory comments alleging that the investigator lied and concealed files while showing photos of Commander Katz. In fact, neither the Sheriff’s Department nor Commander Steven D. Katz had any involvement in the investigation into the death of [Christopher] Wallace.”
In their statement, Critical Content wrote, “Critical Content apologizes to Commander Steve Katz of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, whose photo was mistakenly included in last night’s airing of Who Shot Biggie and Tupac? He is not the Steven Katz of the Los Angeles Police Department mentioned in the program.”
Who Shot Biggie and Tupac? examined the still-unsolved murders of Tupac and Biggie, which took place in 1996 and 1997, respectively. The two-hour special featured interviews with police officers, informants and associates like Doug E. Fresh, Funkmaster Flex, Suge Knight and Lil Cease. The special also included a previously unreleased recording of Biggie discussing Shakur’s death just six month before he himself was killed in Los Angeles.
