Josh Duggar-Inspired ‘Law & Order: SVU’ Episode Will Feature A Surprise Twist, According To Ice-T
The Josh Duggar sexual molestation scandal inspired tonight’s episode of Law & Order: SVU, but viewers shouldn’t expect art to exactly imitate life. According to SVU star Ice-T, the ripped-from-the-headlines storyline will feature a twist. Maybe the twist will be that the fictional Josh Duggar won’t get away with it?
Tonight’s episode of Law & Order: SVU is titled “Patrimonial Burden,” and it’s going to give viewers a glimpse into the patriarchal, ultra-conservative world that Josh Duggar and his victims grew up in. The Duggars are Independent Baptists who are so obsessed with abstinence that they encourage their kids not to hold hands with their significant others until they’re engaged. On their now-defunct TLC reality series, 19 Kids and Counting, Josh Duggar and his married siblings claimed that they saved their first kisses for their wedding days. However, the Duggar kids’ strict religious upbringing didn’t scare Josh from doing something sinister to his sisters — according to police reports obtained by In Touch Weekly, Josh sexually molested four of his younger sisters when he was a teenager.
Sneak peeks and plot descriptions of tonight’s SVU episode have already revealed a few details that will differ from the Josh Duggar sexual molestation scandal that made headlines all summer long. The fictional family inspired by the Duggars will only have 10 kids, not 19, and their reality show will be titled Baker’s Dozen. SVU will also sensationalize the Josh Duggar story by having one of the Baker girls (Victoria Leigh) get impregnated. Those who have been following the Josh Duggar scandal will assume that one of the 13-year-old Baker girl’s own brothers will turn out to be the father of her child, but this might not be the case — it would be a little too obvious.
Law & Order: SVU will air a Duggars-inspired episode http://t.co/hPj4jn9ChS pic.twitter.com/2PWp5pqbWW
— People magazine (@people) October 12, 2015
During an interview with ETonline, Ice-T said that the Josh Duggar scandal was only used “as a starting point of the story.”
“They can’t go directly by the story, or you guys would know how it’s gonna end!” Ice-T said. “So, we gotta twist it.”
Next week, on #SVU, #MeetTheBakers. Come for the #VirtueBall, stay for the #FamilyValues. pic.twitter.com/UAD4slCpn0
— Warren Leight (@warrenleightTV) October 29, 2015
The biggest way to twist the Josh Duggar-inspired story would be to change the identity of the man who sexually abused the 13-year-old Baker girl who ends up pregnant. The show could switch the abuser’s identity to the girl’s father, who will be played by Broadway star Christopher Sieber, or maybe the perp will turn out to be the family’s pastor. According to E! News, Jane the Virgin star Ryan Devlin will play Pastor Eldon. Another suspect might be one of the Baker’s Dozen crew members. During an interview with Talk Nerdy With Us about the Josh Duggar-inspired episode, SVU Executive Producer Warren Leight revealed that Groundhog Day star Chris Elliott will be playing a cameraman in “Patrimonial Burden.”
The Bakers first find out that 13-year-old Lane Baker is pregnant during a purity ball, an event where daughters promise to be virgins until their fathers marry them off. She faints while she is dancing with her father, which is something Josh Duggar’s dad would never do with his own daughters — as the Inquisitr previously reported, Jim Bob Duggar thinks women “defraud” men by dancing in front of them.
In a sneak peek of the Josh Duggar-inspired episode, Lt. Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) tries to get 13-year-old Lane Baker to talk about her pregnancy. However, the girl doesn’t want to get her abuser in trouble because she believes that her pregnancy is “God’s will.”
As the Inquisitr previously reported, Jill and Jessa Duggar also tried to protect their abuser. In a Fox News Channel interview, Jessa defended Josh Duggar by saying that her brother was “just a little too curious about girls.” Josh confessed to fondling his sisters’ breasts and genitals on multiple occasions, often while they were asleep. Jessa downplayed Josh’s behavior as “mild, inappropriate touching.”
One SVU star wasn’t wild about filming an episode inspired by the Josh Duggar scandal. Peter Scanavino slammed Josh Duggar for being a hypocrite in the wake of his second big scandal: his admission that he signed up for the Ashley Madison website to cheat on his wife. As the former Executive Director of Family Research Council Action, Josh Duggar fought for what he considered “traditional” family values by speaking out against same-sex marriage. Josh later confessed to being the “biggest hypocrite ever,” and he claimed that he was suffering from an addiction to internet pornography.
“I have never been so infuriated with someone’s level of hypocrisy, and lying, and then displacement of responsibility onto something else,” Peter Scanavino said of Josh’s behavior. “When I think about that guy, it boils my blood, I will say.”
Here in the real world, no one ever suffered any legal repercussions for Josh Duggar’s crimes — the statute of limitations ran out shortly after they came to light, so Josh and his parents could not be prosecuted. Jim Bob and Michelle could have been charged with Permitting Abuse of a Minor (Arkansas Code 5-27-221) for allowing their son continued access to his victims.
You can find out if the fictional Jim Bob, Michelle, and Josh Duggar have to pay for their actions when Law & Order: SVU airs tonight at 9 p.m. ET on NBC.
[Image via Josh Duggar/Instagram]
