Mike Tyson on Law & Order

Despite the controversy of hiring Mike Tyson to portray a sex abuse victim who wrongfully winds up on death row, NBC went ahead and aired the episode. The only concession they made to those who were offended by the fact that Tyson is a convicted rapist was to air the episode one week early. Here is a highlight from “The Ballad of Reggie Rhodes”

Tyson seems to be annoyed about the whole flap because he insists he is innocent of the crime he was convicted of – raping then-18-year-old Miss Black America pageant competitor Desiree Washington 12 years ago. The day after the episode aired, he appeared on Katie Couric’s talk show, saying “I didn’t do anything to her.” He admitted that he had taken advantage of women, but as for Ms. Washington, “I never took advantage of her.” Lisa de Moraes of Style’s TV Column in the Washington Post noted that Couric’s mostly female audience applauded. Maybe Couric was thinking she’d explore the storyline of the show with Tyson to find out why he was abusive to women “in his past” but she didn’t get far with that. He told her that he was an equal opportunity abuser: “I was violent towards everybody.”

Law & Order: SVU kind of got crossed off our viewing list because of its incessant plot recycling. Part of this storyline reminded us of Episode 1 from Season 2 of SVU – Wrong is Right (2000) where Adam Kaufman played a kid who was being passed around by his adoptive father. Yes, that was Season 2 and it’s funny how we remember details of these shows but never remember the last part!

Next week, Marcia Gay Harden is supposed to come back in her role as FBI Agent Dana Lewis. This will be her 4th appearance on the series. Her last one was in “Penetration” 2010, when her character was a rape victim.