“Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” is renowned for its ripped-from-the-headlines episodes. Who can forget the Trayvon Martin-Paula Deen crossover featuring Cybill Shepherd as a racist celebrity chef or the Gamergate-riffing “Intimidation Game,” where Ice-T shoots Logan Paul’s misogynistic geek on a Manhattan rooftop?
\n\nThe Season 28 premiere of “SVU,” on Oct. 8 on NBC, wasn’t a play on the news by design. According to showrunner Michele Fazekas, the episode was written and shot in July. But it will feel incredibly timely given its similarities to the Cornell 7 gang rape case — which “SVU” star Mariska Hargitay has publicly condemned, calling for justice to be served.
\n\nTitled “Volition,” the episode concerns Emily (Lizzy DeClement), a young woman who’s discovered in a subway car dizzy and disheveled. She believes she was gang-raped by a group of three men — two of whom she knew, including a man named Josh — while she was passed out from consuming too much alcohol. At the hospital, she claims she “doesn’t remember” and initially blames herself, prompting Benson (Hargitay) to assure Emily, “Was it the best idea to drink that much? It wasn’t. Does that mean that anyone is allowed to touch you or…
Original source: https://variety.com/