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‘Law & Order: SVU’ Showrunner Says ‘You Can Bet Your Bottom Dollar’ Charlottesville Will Be Tackled Next Season

Fans are wondering exactly how “Law & Order: SVU” star Mariska Hargitay’s Lieutenant Olivia Benson is going to tackle Charlottesville, Va.

The “Law & Order” franchise is known for ripping plots from the headlines and the eruption of violence in Charlottesville, Va., that occurred earlier this month is no exception.

 

“You can bet your bottom dollar that we’ll do that,” “Law & Order: SVU” showrunner Michael Chernuchin told Entertainment Weekly in a Wednesday, Aug. 30, article. “We don’t want to take a stand on any political point of view, but we like to present the issues. What I want is, at the end of a show, for half the people to stand up and cheer and the other half to throw their shoes at the TV. I want controversy.”

Earlier this month, a white supremacist rally in support of Confederate monuments spurred a counter-protest and turned violent and deadly when a man with white supremacist links rammed his car into a crowd. Heather Heyer was killed and 19 others injured.

Chernuchin cited the tensions as the reason why Charlottesville works as a storyline for SUV’s 19th season, which premieres on NBC Wednesday, Sept. 27, at 9 p.m.


The Troubling Aftermath of Charlottesville:

Latino Man Wanted In Beating of Black Man In Charlottesville Turns Self In, Will Be Extradited

Stanislaus State Students Want White Nationalist Who Punched Woman at Berkeley Protest, Organized Charlottesville Rally Expelled

‘Many Chairs. One Table.’: New Walmart Ad Weighs In On Racial Controversy In Aftermath of Charlottesville Unrest


“Conflict. It’s just the state of the world today with everybody,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “Everybody’s political now and everything is political now and we want to deal with that.”

However, not everyone thinks it’s appropriate for the long-running series to deal with the incident where racial tensions came to a head.

Still, others readily applauded the decision.

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