S. Samuel
"Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" actress Tiffany Robinson has stepped forward to address this week's eerie feature episode which appeared to find its inspiration from 2009's publicized Chris Brown/Rihanna domestic dispute.
According to Robinson, the writers made a last-minute decision to kill off her character “Micha.”
“When I thought about the different options, I really made my peace with the decision that they made,” Robinson explained to MTV News about the death of her character, Micha. After Micha runs off with her abusive boyfriend, fellow pop star Caleb (played by Roca), she ends up dead after a heated argument. Initially, the characters were just supposed to run off to Bermuda together, giving the episode a happier ending. But some last-minute conversations led to the more-dramatic conclusion. “They really pushed it so that we can really look at the seriousness of it,” Robinson said. “I felt like they drove it home even more. They kept it real, and they went there, regardless of what controversy it would bring. It was about telling the truth. Originally when I saw it, they hadn’t ended it that way. This is what happens [in abusive relationships] when we look at the numbers. This is usually where it ends up.” (MTV)
Robinson also said she initially dismissed the Brown/Rihanna comparisons until receiving the post-fight make-up treatment and seeing similarities to 2009’s assault.
“I feel so much responsibility towards it. I honestly didn’t even hear all the Rihanna and Chris stuff ’til I was on set. And that was mainly dealing with the makeup, when they did have to do the bruising and stuff, making it look as realistic as possible,” she said. “That’s when those kinds of comments were being made. You just felt so much responsibility to deliver this story with respect and also bringing light to the issue [and] the bigger picture. And that is domestic violence. We wanted to make sure we were telling the stories the way that the writers [wanted us to].” (MTV)
Buzz behind the episode heated up the Internet late last week.
Next Wednesday’s episode of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” is being billed by NBC as “a familiar story of two celebrities” — and to pop fans, it seems very familiar indeed. The episode “Funny Valentine” appears extremely similar to the ongoing saga of Rihanna and Chris Brown. According to the official preview, a rising, young singer is badly beaten by her hip-hop star boyfriend, portrayed in the trailer as a 20-something African-American who tends to wear fitted hats. Authorities work to build a case, but the singer sticks by her man and refuses to aid the investigation, which turns into a “media circus.” (Billboard)
A show representative later came forward and said the episode was purely fictional.
Officially, of course, it’s not about them. (UPDATE: A rep for the show told EW “As always, SVU is fiction.”) The promo features a popular music couple where the man is an abuser and the woman keeps going back to him. Because this is SVU, there is of course a twist: The male singer winds up getting murdered. (Entertainment Weekly)
Check out the “Law & Order: SVU” episode trailer:
