Dick Wolf Fires ‘Law & Order’ Spinoff Writer for Threatening to ‘Light up’ Looters

Dick Wolf has fired writer Craig Gore, who was set to script the upcoming Law & Order spinoff series Law & Order: Organized Crime, after he shared a number of controversial Facebook posts in which he posed with an assault rifle and threatened to “light up” looters. Gore’s posts, and his subsequent termination, come amid global protests following the death of George Floyd while in police custody, sparking calls for an end to police brutality and systemic racism.

In a statement shared to his company’s official Twitter account, Wolf announced that he would be “terminating Craig Gore immediately” and would not “tolerate this conduct, especially during our hour of national grief.” Gore has also been let go from his talent agency, Paradigm Talent Agency. The company confirmed that they had cut ties with Gore in a statement to Entertainment Tonight in which a spokesperson said the agency condemned “his post in the strongest possible terms.”

Gore, whose since-deleted Facebook page identified him as a “co-executive” producer on the spin-off, according to Variety, had shared a number of concerning Facebook posts in recent days. In one images, captioned “Curfew…,” he was seen standing on his porch, dressed in all black, holding a rifle. In a comment, he threatened to “light mother—ers up who are trying to f— with my property.”

The posts were first brought to attention on social media by Greenleaf, Big Little Lies, and Barry writer Drew Janda. In a tweet, which included screenshots of the posts, Janda tagged Law & Order spinoff star Chris Meloni, whose character Elliot Stabler is the focus of the spinoff, dubbing Gore “a proud boy.” Meloni responded by stating that he had “no idea who this person is or what they do.”

Gore, whose other credits include S.W.A.T. and Chicago P.D., quickly faced backlash, with many fans threatening to not watch the spinoff series if his name were still attached to it. Others slammed him for “insulting the movement.”

Gore’s comes come amid global calls for an end to police brutality and systemic racism, which were reignited following the May 25 death of Floyd, the unarmed black man who was killed after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck. While some protests have turned violent, they have largely remained peaceful, demonstrations now taking place in all 50 states and spreading to other cities across the world.