In their just-wrapped 2021-2022 seasons, “Law & Order” and “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” tackled several more stories inspired by real life news. The “SVU” logline even tells us “Capt. Benson and her NYPD squad fight for justice in cases ripped straight from the headlines.” This season, those rips included riffs on Bill Cosby’s sexual assault case, the shocking true story behind the “Abducted in Plain Sight” documentary, and the murder trial of a well-connected political donor. Read on for the episodes, and their real-life inspirations.
“The Right Thing” (Law & Order)
Season 21 kicked off with famous Black entertainer Henry King (Norm Lewis) back on the streets after his sexual assault conviction was overturned, just like Bill Cosby’s case. However, the episode took a swift turn into fiction when the character was then gunned down. The story evolved into whether his killer, who had been one of his victims, should be found guilty for her crime.
“Wicked Game” (Law & Order)
Currie Graham of “Reacher” and “The Rookie” played wealthy New Yorker Kyle Swanson, who is tried for causing the death of his Black lovers. The real-life story: Longtime Democratic donor Ed Buck was found guilty of intentionally overdosing Black men, two of them fatally, and sentenced to 30 years in prison in April 2022.
“Fault Lines” (Law & Order)
This episode combined the drama over Britney Spears’ conservatorship and the media hubbub of Naomi Osaka quitting the French Open: A young tennis star (Christen Sharice) who’s been declared mentally incompetent and had her life micromanaged by her controlling father kills the judge who was paid to keep the conservatorship in place.
“The Great Pretender” (Law & Order)
A social media star isn’t who she pretends to be in this installment, very much like faux heiress Anna Delvey, whose story inspired Netflix’s “Inventing Anna.”
“Did You Believe in Miracles?” (SVU)
“SVU” leaves out the alien twist in the unbelievable true tale of repeated sexual assault on a young girl (Isabella Russo) by a family friend that was told in “Abduction in Plain Sight,” and turns it into a story about a girl who is made to believe by her rapist that she’s “carrying God’s child.”
“Fast Times @The Wheelhouse” (SVU)
This episode, in which an aspiring social media star is assaulted by two influencers at the fictitious Wheelhouse, seems clearly based on the case of Tik Tok star Tony Lopez, who was accused by two underage girls of sexual abuse and soliciting nude photos. His influential Hype House was turned into a Netflix series of the same name, but he wasn’t on it. However, the sexual abuse allegations kept coming: In January, “Top Gun” actor and “Hype House” star Patrick Wright accused former collaborator Sienna Mae Gomez of groping him.
