Former Law & Order SVU Star Blasts the Series After John Oliver’s Scathing Episode Focused on the Franchise
On Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, the host trained in on an impossible target: not a politician or enormous corporation, but rather the long-running NBC television franchise Law and Order. Oliver took a gander at a December 2021 report from The Appeal, calling on star Mariska Hargitay to stop Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. The actor, who established the nonprofit Euphoric Heart Foundation, is closely associated with activism on behalf of sexual assault victims, however the report from The Appeal alleges that, similar to Law and Order, the Blissful Heart Foundation advances a false narrative that paints law enforcement as hyper-vigilant and hyper-skilled with regards to sex crimes.
On Twitter after the episode aired, former series star Diane Neal asked her followers whether they felt SVU created “unrealistic expectations,” and found that a great deal of fans did, and some had specific examples of being overlooked by the police.
“I agree. In the event that [Olivia Benson and SVU] were real, there would be Significantly more justice,” Neal answered. “I’m embarrassed to admit, I used to think the way it dealt with the show resembled real life. Then I figured out the hard way I was wrong. Thank you for sharing the story of your real experience.” Neal hashtagged the response with “I’m sorry,” and in another tweet, she thanked her followers for sharing their stories.
In the report from The Appeal, five unique ladies who took sexual assault allegations to the New York Police Department (the subjects of Law and Order: SVU) related their experiences, suggesting that they were not taken seriously. Cheerful Heart Foundation fundraises to pay for rape kits to be analyzed, claiming that the backlog of used yet untested kits are there because there isn’t sufficient financing to process the tests.
“Mariska Hargitay has constructed a great career from Law and Order: SVU, and fabricated a sterling reputation as a sexual assault advocate from her organization, the Blissful Heart Foundation,” JL, who revealed a sexual assault to the NYPD in 2012, told The Appeal. “Unfortunately, the actual sexual assault advocacy local area has had the misfortune of seeing what lies beneath the Hollywood facade of the Euphoric Heart Foundation, its consultants, and its pioneer.”
There is the issue of keeping the show interesting and entertaining, of course. During his episode, Oliver acknowledged that assuming the show was mostly individuals sitting around checking PC records and making phone calls, it could not have possibly been on television for so long. Still, maker Dick Wolf’s relationship with the NYPD ensures that there is virtually no criticism of the organization.
“Instead of portraying a flawed system loaded with structural racism, the show presents exceptionally equipped cops working inside a largely fair framework that mostly convicts white individuals,” Oliver said.
