Adrian Anchondo talks timely ‘Law & Order’ about NYC’s gay-targeted attacks & calling Chris Meloni “daddy”

The long-running Law & Order franchise has a history of finding inspiration for its cases-of-the-week in real-world news and events. With its latest ripped-from-the-headlines gambit, the Organized Crime spin-off touches on a timely story with an urgent message for the LGBTQ+ community.

In the episode, titled “TAG:GEN,” Detective Stabler (Christopher “Zaddy” Meloni) and his task force uncover a deadly robbery scheme targeting gay men in Hell’s Kitchen, one which Sergeant Bell (Danielle Moné Truitt) takes personally as an out lesbian.

If that sounds familiar, that’s because L&O is directly referencing the series of reported drugging and robberies in New York City over the past few years, events which have left the queer nightlife scene on edge and resulted in the deaths of two gay men.

Queerty favorite Adrian Anchondo also appears in the episode as Det. Eric Geary, a closeted officer from another police squad, who links up with Stabler and Bell after he finds himself drugged by an unknown assailant.

Ahead of “TAG:GEN’s” premiere, we caught up with Anchondo to learn all about what it was like to join Organized Crime for an episode that feels very personal to him. Yes, it was a lot fun—as the actor reveals, there’s a scene where he gets to set up a Grindr-esque hookup app profile for Meloni—but Anchondo also opens up about the careful work that went into ensuring the procedural drama approached the real-life tragedy with sensitivity and authenticity.

*Just before our interview began, we learned that three men had been charged in the drugging murders and robberies in Hell’s Kitchen, so our conversation begins with Anchondo’s reaction to the latest developments:

ADRIAN ANCHONDO: It’s crazy to see that article; what crazy timing. I knew—from visiting New York when I was filming the episode—that friends of mine who work in nightlife have been very nervous about this. They’ve heard lots of stories about their own friends. And they knew about the people that have passed from it. So it was weird filming it there and hearing about it from people actually in the nightlife.

QUEERTY: Right, and this has been national news. We’re both in Los Angeles, but we’ve certainly heard about it here. How has this impacted the people you know in New York? Have they changed their “going out” habits at all?

It’s interesting because I go out a lot, and I work at a gay bar in Los Angeles. It’s tricky, because I don’t want to shame anyone for wanting to do any kind of substance, but at the same time, I’ve seen some pretty scary moments. And I know I stay away from it because it’s just too risky in my mind.

As far as people in New York who I know and their friends, I think I they still do it, you know? But they usually stick with each other—I think the people that do substances stick with each other and watch each other and take care of each other.

I don’t know what others precautions people are taking, except for my friends in the nightlife industry are definitely asking people to be aware. And some of our bars have these things from life LGBT center, where you can just like put a droplet of your drink onto this card and it’ll tell you if there’s if there’s drugs on it. It’s a very useful tool—I don’t know how many people will actually use it at the bar, but I think most bars should advertise it.

So your episode of Law & Order: Organized Crime is very much one of those classic “ripped from the headlines” stories. Given what you knew of the real-life situation, what were your initial reactions to the script? Did its approach feel authentic to you?

Oh, very much. I knew from reading the script, that my character was drugged, and that he survived, and that he’d be helping the detectives figure out what’s going on—I play a detective from another squad. But my struggle in the show, his arc, it’s about his journey of self-acceptance through helping other people.

And the main character in the show, Sergeant Bell, played by Danielle Moné Truitt is a lesbian. And then there’s “major daddy” Christopher Meloni—big sweetheart— and they… well, my part just kept getting bigger and bigger. Like, we kept on adding scenes and trying to make it very authentic. And even the actors were very mindful of that.

There was one scene we were filming with Chris Meloni, and there’s some really humorous moments where we set up a Grindr profile for him—but on the show it’s called Guyser, which has a double meaning. Anyway, we were workshopping some new lines and we had a lot of laughs. But Chris was like, “Wait, let’s take something back here, because if we don’t give enough time in between these two lines, it might sound like we’re making fun of gay people, or it might do a disservice to the community. And I was like, “Wow, you’re so right—that’s so smart.”

So they were very careful throughout. There’s a great circuit party scene, too, which was really fun and interesting, especially sitting down with the writer, the director, and the actors working through lines and being like, “Hey, what can we do to make this better for the journey, and what will the audience take from from this?”

I like what you said about your character finding self-acceptance through helping others, through realizing he’s part of a community. I think that speaks to the fact that, while we sometimes live in our bubbles, an episode like this on a network show watched nationwide, can be very important.

Especially on a show that’s so big and has been on for so long.

And I’ll say, I had a couple of concerns. First, in my view, it’s a mostly straight audience. And I’m hoping that when they see the first few minutes, they won’t be like, “Okay, I’m trying this episode off, I don’t want to see this.”

The second concern was: I know from being friends with people who’ve worked on gay shows, that the gay audience can be very tough on things we’re told are meant to represent us. So I was worried that my character—who’s actually out of the closet to his family and friends—decides to keep his sexuality a secret. So I was worried gay audiences would be like, “Oh god, here we go again—another character who doesn’t want to come out.” I was scared that would be an issue. But I think, when people watch it, by the end they’re going to be very pleased about it. Because it’s almost less about himself than it is about being able to help other people.

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And you know we’re dying to know more about what it was like working with Chris Meloni—tell us everything!

He is genuinely so—I mean, I’ve worked with stars like him, and it’s so intimidating to go to your first day on set and be with “The Guy,” you know? So I was a mumbling fool. But they were so welcoming. He’s just the most relaxing, sweet, warm person—but also intimidating. I mean, he’s a big guy!

It was really funny for me though because we’re filming the scene where we’re setting up Stabler’s Guyser profile, he’s like, “Let me look at that,” and read its: “Weightlifting, discreet—daddy?” [Laughs.] And I’m so happy because I get to be the one to call him daddy! All of my gay friends are going to be jealous, because that’s what we all want to call him.

And then he gets to go undercover at a circuit party where he’s dancing with guys. So, yeah, it’s a lot of fun.

Related:

It’s official, Christopher Meloni is owning his ‘zaddy’ status

Plus, he explains why he has such a nice butt. The more you know.

You previously told me this was your favorite role you’ve ever done. I mean, Chris Meloni aside, what make you feel so strongly about it?

I’m just happy to like to play gay roles that have a lot of depth. I mean, I may not have the most dialogue in the episode, but his presence is so important to all the other characters, and I that’s what I love about it.

And I’m just going to put it out there: The character has potential to go on. We’re going to manifest it.

Absolultey we are! I hope the writers are looking for more excuses to send Chris Meloni undercover at a gay bar.

Yeah, and I talked to the writer about this, because I got to like develop a nice rapport with him and the director. I was saying, like, “There’s so many opportunities right now—especially with drag bars, our drag queens, and our queer spaces being targeted in different states.” I mean, yes, it’s a crime procedural, so it can do its best to celebrate different people, the community, so it does have to focus on the negative a little bit, but also the heroes. So I hope that they continue to explore other storylines that deal with queer issues, especially since the main character, Bell, is a lesbian.

So, on that note, as a final question: What sort of impact do you hope this episode has on Law & Order‘s regular viewers? What do you want people to take away from it?

Well, I’m hoping that gay people will watch this and that they will, first of all, be more alert and aware what is happening out there. Because this is based on real, actual events, so we have to be careful.

And I also hope that they understand, at least for my character, why he may have reservations about coming out of the closet. And I talk about this as an actor, too, because I have this internal debate with myself about straight actors playing gay roles, or queerbaiting on TV. But we don’t know what an actor’s private journey is, or if they’ve had conversations with the director—just because they’re not talking about it in magazines, it doesn’t mean anything.

I think of what happened to [Kit Connor] from Heartstopper. And, to me, that’s very sad that we as a community can force people out of the closet when we know that we’ve struggled with it ourselves in the past. So I always take a step back. People say, like, “That actor shouldn’t be playing that part because it’s gay,” or whatever. You don’t actually know. And, yes, believe me—as a gay actor who just got cast in a gay role, I definitely would like to be cast in more gay roles before straight actor.

But, at the same time, some of these issues wouldn’t get a chance to be seen if it wasn’t for someone like Chris Meloni being the lead actor on a show like this, that’s actually talking about these issues.

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Law & Order: Organized Crime airs Thursday nights on NBC. Anchondo’s episode, titled “Tag:GEN,” is available to stream now via Peacock.