'Law & Order: SVU' Star Ice-T Defends Co-Star Over Backlash to Details in Benson-Stabler Letter

By Michael Hein

Ice-T weighed in on the latest Law & Order: SVU drama on Tuesday, urging fans to tone it down. The actor retweeted a post from actress Isabel Gillies, who played Kathy Stabler on the cop drama. Ice-T seemed to agree with Gillies about the discourse from fans online.

Warning: spoilers for Law & Order: SVU and Law & Order: Organized Crime are ahead! Gillies published an essay on her Substack page on Monday called "T.H.I.N.K.," encouraging fans to think more carefully about what they post on social media. It came after a recent episode of Law & Order where her character died suddenly and horrifically. To her shock, some fans celebrated this tragedy on social media, and directed their dislike for Kathy onto her.

Gillies noted that her co-stars had received vitriol of this kind before, and apparently Ice-T is among them. The actor re-posted Gillies' essay, adding: "A lotta SVU Fans are takin this s- too far... Ya think? I do. Smh."

Gillies quoted colleague Mariska Hargitay in the essay s well, and Hargitay retweeted it. She wrote: "You ask if we can we stop and think. You're evidence that we can do both. You also answer to the question 'Can we write? Can we use words intelligently enough to disrupt the noise?' You can, [Isabel Gillies], and you do. You're important and you have all my love."

Gillies responded to Hargitay's tweet, saying: "And you have all my love. Thank you, [Warren Leight, Chris Meloni, Ice-T] and all the voices carrying the message of pause, THINK, kindness and respect. We're all — ALL — petals of the same flower."

Gillies' essay title comes from an acronym meaning: "Is it thoughtful? is it honest? Is it interesting? Is it necessary? Is it kind?" She vowed to make these considerations before posting things online, and asked fans to do the same — particularly before directing hateful comments at a real-life person.

Most fans gave Gillies similar praise for speaking out about how difficult this experience was for her, and agreed that there should be a concerted effort to change social media discourse. However, others argued that it was the responsibility of a user to curate their social media feed — especially a person with a public identity who might get a sudden influx of comments at a certain time.

Gillies is no longer a part of the Law & Order franchise cast, but it's clear that she still has their support. For Elliott Stabler (Meloni), the drama continues on Thursday nights on NBC.

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