Bullying, Misogyny & Toxic Behavior: BTS Drama Puts SVU in Jeopardy
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit enjoys enduring popularity on television, as its run attests – by now it is in 24th season. Now it is fourth longest-running primetime scripted series on TV (by episode count), surpassing the original Law & Order.
The cop drama regularly touched issues such as sexual violence, abuse, and the exploitation of power on screen. But now those issues might have surfaced on its sets. Its recently named showrunner, David Graziano is facing allegations of workplace misconduct and bullying.
Los Angeles Times just published a voluminous report, in which more than a dozen people accuse Graziano of mistreating subordinate staffers, being volatile and quick to anger, and making inappropriate and demeaning comments toward women and people of color.
Some of the accusations are anonymous. Other people, like Haley Cameron, a script coordinator who exited SVU not long after Graziano took the helm in June, Amy Hartman, who worked as a script coordinator under Graziano on the 2021 crime drama Coyote and David James, who also worked on Coyote as a script coordinator, stepped forward to accuse Graziano.
Besides generally describing him as "a very unprofessional, ego-centric, and immature man" or "super toxic", they have provided a number of specific accusations. About the worst of those appears to be an incident where he refused to stand by his assistant, who was groped by a producer, because he was an "important showrunner" while she was a "nobody".
A spokesperson for Graziano, Alafair Hall, responded to the accusations with "The implication that Mr. Graziano created a hostile work environment, is sexist, inappropriate, and unprofessional is false." (via)
He also added that while working on Coyote Graziano "snapped at people and was generally in a bad mood" because he suffered from chronic pains at the time.
Fans of Law & Order SVU, however, seem inclined to believe the accusations.
There is even a theory that not only the accusations are true, but that they have surfaced due to another disgraceful issue: Graciano just fired one of the female main stars (Kelli Giddish) because he decided she was too old, and they needed a younger and cheaper actress, which caused other people to finally shed light on his awful behavior.
For now, it is not clear how the whole affair is going to impact the series, if at all. Graziano only stepped in as a showrunner for Season 24, and SVU survived multiple showrunner changes before, even if the scandal does not simply peter out over time.