The “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” series has revealed that an upcoming episode of the series that would have been based off of news stories concerning President Donald Trump has been cancelled, according to a statement made by one of the show’s stars during a recent interview. This cancellation also notably occurred in spite of a twist ending.
The episode focused on a character loosely based off of Trump
Ice-T, who plays Detective Odafin "Fin" Tutuola, discussed the lost episode in a recent interview with Vanity Fair, while promoting the horror film, “Bloodrunners.”Accordingly, guest star Gary Cole would have played a presidential candidate who had been accused of sexual misconduct, with multiple girls accusing him of rape.
The character would have loosely been based off of current President of the United States, Donald Trump. According to the interview, Cole’s character “wasn’t Trump, [but] he acted like Trump.”
The episode’s twist ending would have revealed Cole’s character was actually innocent of the charges made against him. However, it was not a political rival who had been behind the false accusations, but the character’s own campaign adviser, who had set him up believing that he would be unfit for the presidential office.
The episode was delayed twice before finally being cut
It appeared that the episode had been made early during the 2016 election, with an expected release sometime in October last year, before eventually getting pushed to November.
Eventually, however, the NBC network decided to pull the episode. According to the interview, Ice-T suggested the main reason the episode was pulled was more because it would be dated, especially after the multiple delays, although some have speculated that the episode was pulled because it would have caused controversy over its content.
That said, the “Law and Order” franchise is well-known for adapting news stories into content for its episodes.
According to Ice-T, he felt that the episode “wasn't one of our best shows” and felt that it was not worth airing. He also confirmed that he was unsure if the episode still exists, suggesting the possibility that it had been erased. That said, he did confirm that he was at least paid for the episode.
