Shemar Moore Reacts: 'Canceling S.W.A.T. Is a F—ing Mistake'
After six successful seasons, the Shemar Moore-led CBS crime drama S.W.A.T. has been canceled. The reason for the cancelation reportedly came down to CBS and SONY not being able to come to a financial agreement. Moore took to Instagram live to share his disappointment in the show's end. "I'm a little bit sad. I'm a lot of bit sad. We got canceled – S.W.A.T….S.W.A.T. got canceled," he said while donning black shades and a hoodie while speaking from a sofa. It makes no sense. Look up the articles. Read the articles," he added before noting the show's stats for the network compared to the others. "We're the best show on Friday nights at 8 for CBS. The last two years we've been killing it…we've done nothing wrong."
Moore then explained the lack of diversity in primetime television, hinting that he feels racism may have played a part in the decision. "We did everything that was asked for. And let me tell the truth: Did you know that I am the only African American male lead on network television? Not streaming, not cable…network television. I am the only African American male lead on network television." According to Moore, other shows in the slot that featured an African American male lead were not No. 1.
He says S.W.A.T. was the most diverse show on network television, and prior to his hiring, CBS was under fire for lack of diversity in its programming. He also admits that saying such on a public platform could cause issues with CBS, and he also admits the network has treated him great. But he's upset over the abrupt cancellation of the show. Furthermore, Moore claims the network executives led him and his co-stars to believe their jobs and the show was in good standing…at least for one final season…despite rumblings that said otherwise. It's been reported the finale of Season 6 will serve as the series finale. Moore says the network will regret the decision.
Moore spoke with PopCulture.com ahead of the Season 6 premiere about the show's development, and why it registered so much with fans. "This show is a family fun show, where me and the gang get to play super cops, and I'm Hondo, the big badass Hondo, chasing down bad guys," he said. "We've done episodes through the years from school shooting topics, suicide by cop, human trafficking. We did a whole Black Lives Matter type of episode. So we hit current topics without being preachy. We don't talk about religion, we don't talk about politics. When you're watching S.W.A.T., you just have a good time with a fun, cool message, and kind of a sense of humanity."
While the end of S.W.A.T. may be here, Moore's work continues. As previously reported, Btw, he's set to return to the daytime soap opera Young & The Restless as a special guest star for an episode arc about his former on-screen brother Neil Winters' (Kristoff St. John) memorial.