Craig Gore, a staff member on the upcoming Law & Order: SVU spinoff starring Christopher Meloni, was fired Tuesday after his post about getting violent with looters went viral on social media.
“I will not tolerate this conduct, especially during our hour of national grief,” Law & Order boss Dick Wolf said in a statement. “I am terminating Craig Gore immediately.”
Gore, who was announced to serve as co-executive producer on the Elliot Stabler spinoff, shared a photo of himself with a rifle in front of his home.
The caption of the photo included “curfew,” and it came after he threatened to “light motherf***ers up who try to f*** w/my property.”
Ayy @Chris_Meloni your new showrunner is a proud boy pic.twitter.com/FUb8NYc7aW
— drew janda (@drewjanda) June 2, 2020
Drew Janda, who is listed as Associate Producer at NBCUniversal, the company which produces all of Dick Wolf’s series, tweeted Gore’s messages to Meloni, leading to them going viral.
The decision to fire Gore comes just hours later.
Gore’s IMDB bio includes a note that he “form[ed] a burglary/robbery crew, and became a professional thief” before going to prison at age 18, had also worked as a producer on police procedurals including Chicago PD and SWAT.
Meloni responded to the backlash about Gore, saying the following:
“Truth: Matt Olmstead is my Showrunner I have gotten no word on ANY hirings I have no idea who this person is or what they do.”
“Oh shit.. The Big Boss is cleaning house… RESPECT,” added ICE T.
NBC confirmed the Elliot Stabler spinoff earlier this year, with Meloni set to reprising his SVU character leading an NYPD organized crime unit.
It’s unclear when the series will premiere, but 13 episodes have been ordered and it is likely that there will be spinoffs with SVU to reunited Elliot and Olivia Benson.
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Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.