As of the time of this writing, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is in the midst of airing its 23rd season which has allowed there to be more than 500 episodes of the show. To say that is amazing is a massive understatement especially since each episode of SVU is over 40 minutes long when you take out the commercial breaks. On top of that, it is amazing that the show has been on the air for so long since SVU has proven that it isn’t afraid to tackle extremely controversial topics.
Even though controversial episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit have aired and the show focuses on disgusting crimes, it turns out there are some places it can’t go. After all, it has been reported that one episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit didn’t air as planned because of one specific person, the former President of the United States, Donald Trump.
The Canceled Episode Of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Back in 2005, the seventh season of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit aired and by then it was abundantly clear that the show was a hit with audiences. With that in mind, it makes sense that Donald Trump was interested in associating himself with the show. In fact, according to the Law & Order Wikipedia, Trump was set to star in a season seven episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit titled “Design”. However, even though it has been said that Trump has a history of forcing his way into movies and TV shows, he pulled out of his SVU role due to a scheduling conflict.
Even though Donald Trump once wanted to be a part of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, it seems abundantly clear that he would have hated one episode of the show that was produced. After all, it is known that a 2016 SVU episode titled “Unstoppable” was based around a Trump-style Presidential candidate. Once the Trump-inspired SVU character is introduced, his campaign gets destroyed after he is accused of forcing himself on an underage girl.
After the Trump-inspired Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode was produced, NBC was set to air it on October 12th, 2016. However, the episode’s air date was then pushed back to October 26th and then it was delayed again with plans for it to be released in 2017. Ultimately, however, NBC announced that all plans to air the episode had been abandoned and it is now believed it will never be released at all.
When looking back at the story of the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode that never aired, there is no doubt that the reason NBC pulled it is Donald Trump. After all, every episode of SVU features characters committing serious crimes so there is absolutely nothing unusual about “Unstoppable” aside from its connection to Trump. That said, it has never been reported that Trump actually pushed to have the episode yanked. Therefore, it seems like NBC made that decision alone.
Dick Wolf And Ice-T Address The Trump-Inspired Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Episode
In the immediate aftermath of the decision to initially delay the airing of the Trump-inspired episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, series creator Dick Wolf was asked about the situation. While talking to reporters at that time, Wolf made it clear that he expected the episode to eventually air. “To put it honestly, I never pressure the network to schedule anything in a specific way except things like crossovers, because it’s their air. I haven’t been informed when it’s going to air. I suspect it will be this spring, but I don’t know.”
Later in the same conversation with the press, Dick Wolf was asked if the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode was delayed over nervousness about offending Donald Trump. In response, Wolf made it clear that wasn’t a concern for him. “No, nervous about what? Law & Order is fiction. I’ve been saying the same thing for 26 years: It’s fiction. When it runs, it’ll run. It’s not a big issue.”
The year after the banned Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode that was inspired by Donald Trump was originally set to air, Ice-T spoke to Vanity fair. When asked about the episode, Ice-T bluntly said that it "wasn't one of our best shows". If that wasn’t bad enough, Ice-T also said "I don’t even think it's worth showing” during the interview. Obviously, Ice-T got his wish in that regard but that doesn’t mean he regretted filming the episode since he was asked about that and he made his priorities clear. "They paid me for it. I don't give a f**k, really. I got my money!"
