Christopher Meloni’s Interview Magazine Photoshoot Has ‘Law & Order’ Fans Freaking Out

Christopher Meloni’s latest photoshoot has given Law & Order fans something to think about now that both Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Law & Order: Organized Crime are on their summer breaks. The actor posed with weights and slices of pizza while wearing workout clothes and blindingly bright pink pants for Interview Magazine. Meloni shared the photos last week, sending fans into a frenzy.

In the interview, Meloni embraced his new role as zaddy, a term that surfaced in recent years to describe a fashionable and sexy man. “I’ve been called that a lot, and who am I to argue with it? Sure, I’m a zaddy,” Meloni told Interview. He also responded to the frenzy that paparazzi photos from the Organized Crime set created, as they showed off his behind.

“This is what has happened. I’ve been blessed with glutes that have an attractive shape,” Meloni told Interview. “But I have a trainer, and we’re going through bodybuilding phases, and where everyone kind of caught me was that I’d been preparing for one year in a very high-intensity weight training program that actually focused on legs. So I guess you could argue that the glute-peeping public are now reaping the benefits of all that hard work.”

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Meloni starred as Det. Elliot Stabler in the first 12 seasons of SVU. After a decade away from the Law & Order franchise, he came back to star in Organized Crime, which debuted in April. The show’s eight-episode first season wrapped earlier this month, with plenty of cliffhangers left to be solved in Season 2. The series will be back in the fall, airing Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET, following Law & Order: For The Defense and SVU.

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The finale didn’t please everyone though, as fans were unhappy about the lack of scenes with Stabler and Capt. Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay). There were hints throughout the season that Benson and Stabler would finally start a relationship, but the show stopped short of showing that. When asked about fans “shipping” the two characters, Meloni dodged. “Meaning that if you’re an Elliot and Olivia shipper, you’re thirsting to see their relationship be consummated? That’s like asking me to try to stop the northbound train by lying down on the track,” he told Interview. “That’s a third-rail question.”

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In a recent interview with PopCulture, Ainsley Seiger, who stars as Jet on Organized Crime, said it was “incredibly intimidating” to act alongside Meloni. This is her first show, and the first scene she ever filmed had Meloni looking over her shoulder.

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“I want to be the new kid on the block who knows their stuff and is ready to work,” Seiger told PopCulture. “And I always joke around with him that it certainly helps to be prepared when you have Elliot Stabler looming over your shoulder, all up in your space and your business, sharing the camera with him. And you’re like, ‘I have to bring my all, or else.’”

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“The fact that there are no pics of Chris Meloni’s a— in that Interview mag photoshoot is….especially heinous,” one fan wrote. “That is one hunk of man. love his acting and him in interviews. authentic. needs to go grey,” another commented.

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“DAMN, talk about ripped and shredded, too damn hot,  Chris Meloni knows exactly how to get us all a little hot and bothered, WOW,” one fan wrote. “He looks like 80% of the people he would interview off the street in SVU and I’m 10000% here for it,” another chimed in.