NBC’s Law & Order: SVU is developing an upcoming episode inspired by the 2016 sexual harassment scandal at Fox News, TVLine reports.
TVLine reports the episode, titled The Newsroom, is centered on a character named Howard Coyle, “the uber-powerful, brash, bullying, controlling, obnoxious, inappropriate” head of a news network; 40-ish Heidi, “one of the network’s lead anchors who carries with her a dark and devastating secret;” and 50-ish George, “a seasoned talking head at the net who’s grumpy, cranky and well-versed on what goes on in the newsroom.”
In July 2016, Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson, whose contract had just ended, sued Ailes for sexual harassment. Within days an outside investigation was launched, and within weeks Ailes had resigned, and 21st Century Fox came to a monetary settlement with, and apologized to, Carlson.
“SVU is fiction,” a show rep reminded TVLine.