Carson Daly Walked Into ‘Law And Order: SVU’ ‘Shipper Chaos With His Take On A Benson And Stabler Romance

The Internet should have been sitting down for this one. Carson Daly has somehow ignited the fury of some Law and Order universe fans who ship Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Elliot Stabler (Chris Meloni). The show’s returning to Thursday nights, and anticipation is (arguably too) high for a pairing. Daly made his stance known this morning (he is opposed to a hookup between the two), while saying “it should never happen.” He dropped this take on the Today show (after the 5:00 mark below) while citing the botched Moonlighting romance. His opinion wasn’t shared by anyone else on-air.

Welllll, I do agree with him, having recently taken on the subject while showering Lucifer with praise, since it’s a rare show that manages to resolve Unresolved Sexual Tension in a convincing and effective way. With SVU, though? Maybe not.

My thoughts on the Benson-Stabler thing are this: Stabler disappeared from the Law and Order universe for a decade without even saying goodbye to Liv. He surfaced, and the Organized Crime writers conveniently killed off his wife (that was possibly fan service, right?), and now, fan-hope for a pairing has reached new heights. Stabler started to go off the rails during his quest for vengeance, and during an intervention attended by his kids and Olivia, and then he dropped that “I love you” bomb. He said those words to his daughter, supposedly, while looking at Liv, and then the SVU season finale saw Benson and Stabler attending Fin Tutuola’s wedding and gazing into the distance together. To me, it feels like an all-of-a-sudden rushed timeline and kinda forced.

Subsequently, the pair teased a kissy face on social media, and I can’t blame them, they’re having fun with this. However, I feel like this pairing would never work out, not only because it is too soon, but also in a long-term sense. Stabler appears to enjoy an old-fashioned relationship vibe with his wife not attracting focus, and Olivia’s a scene-stealer and a go-getter. They would butt heads in a romantic sense.

Yet some people decided to read into Mariska Hargitay’s body language and assumed the worst, of course.

https://twitter.com/dayabensons/status/1441022138153115648

Then the ‘shippers started coming for Carson, and it got messy.

https://twitter.com/ktmob_/status/1441049804478558209

However, some folks on social media agreed with Carson’s “controversial” take.

And still others started to make TRL jokes.

https://twitter.com/alwayscoffee/status/1441042222724550657

Find out what happens when Law and Order: SVU and Law and Order: Organized Crime return to Thursday nights on Sept. 23 (tonight!).