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The hour now will air sometime after the Nov. 8 presidential election.
Law & Order: SVU is putting its Donald Trump-inspired episode on hold.
The network has pulled the episode and will not air the hour until sometime after the presidential election on Nov. 8, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.
NBC made the scheduling decision Friday.
News broke Tuesday that the long-running NBC drama was planning to do an episode seemingly inspired by the Republican presidential nominee. The episode, titled "Unstoppable," sees Veep star Gary Cole in the role of a politician whose campaign goes haywire when several women go public with damaging accusations.
The episode was originally set to air on Wednesday, Oct. 26 — less than two weeks before the election. The SVU episode to air in its place on Oct. 26 has not yet been determined.
The episode was announced in the midst of a particularly damaging few weeks for Trump's campaign. The former reality show host and executive producer was accused of demonstrating lewd and sexist behavior on the set of The Apprentice (also an NBC show) in a report published by the Associated Press on Oct. 3. (These claims were further substantiated in a THR story published Tuesday.)
One week ago, the Washington Post posted a vulgar Access Hollywood video from 2005 in which Trump discussed groping women with then-co-host Billy Bush. Trump since has apologized for what he said in the video, calling it "locker room talk." However, his presidential campaign has nonetheless taken a major hit as a result of the leaked footage caught on a hot mic.
Since then, several more women have come forward with allegations of assault, notably two women who shared their story with The New York Times and a People writer who says Trump forced himself on her in 2005. In a press conference on Friday morning, a former Apprentice contestant from season five alleged that Trump had forcibly kissed her.
Trump has vehemently denied the allegations against him and has threatened to sue the publications publishing the allegations (as has his wife, Melania Trump, who was mentioned in the People writer's firsthand account).
NBC aired the first promo for the episode Wednesday evening, immediately following a new broadcast of Law & Order: SVU. In the promo, the Trump-inspired character describes how "women throw themselves" at him, and he is seen holding a press conference in which he states he has nothing to hide.
Law & Order: SVU
