Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni are at it again!
On April 11, the longtime costars and friends attended a Knicks game together, even holding hands while sitting courtside at Madison Square Garden. At the time, the Knicks social media team posted a photo of the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit stars engaging in the platonic display of affection. “DUN DUN,” The Knix team captioned their X.com post, which quickly sparked headlines.
Though Hargitay and Meloni are both married, the friends seem to get a kick out of riling up their fanbase, many of whom ship their Law & Order characters, Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler, or even the actors themselves. So it should come as no surprise that Hargitay ended up sharing the photo in an Instagram slideshow on April 12.
“#AboutLastNight Always love the Garden on a Friday night @msgnetworks and watching the @nyknicks and #captain @jalenbrunson1,” Hargitay captioned her post, slyly adding, “Didn’t mind the company either… @chris_meloni #FridayNightFriends #CaptainToCaptain #MyFavoriteCaptain.” It should be noted that Meloni’s wife, Sherman Williams, made an appearance in the third slide.
Fans reacted as expected. “CHRISKA NATION RISE!! WE ARE SO BACK BABY,” one fan commented on the post, while several commenters commended the actors on “breaking the internet” once again.
“You and Chris breaking the internet and a fandom with a simple picture every time,” one fan wrote, receiving 900 likes. Another wrote, “Breaking the internet one photo at a time… 😍”
Benson and Stabler forever.
Although Meloni did not share the Knicks photo on his own feed, the actor recently posted a couple of selfies with Hargitay on Instagram that garnered a similar reaction. “It’s time Elliot, go get your girl..... I’m getting OLD!!” one fan replied in March, referencing their characters’ decades-long slow burn. Another joked, “‘They’re insane for this’ and it’s just a new photo of Chris and Mariska together.”
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Mariska Hargitay and Chris Meloni have been close friends for years, dating back to their original run on Law & Order: SVU. The pair starred on the series from 1999 to 2011, when Meloni left the police procedural. He eventually returned to the the Law & Order universe in 2021, leading Organized Crime and making cameos in SVU.
That same year Meloni honored Hargitay at Glamour’s Women of the Year ceremony, calling her “Radiant. Charming. Funny. Generous. Elegant. Bawdy. Honest. Appreciative. Inclusive. Direct. Vivacious.”
Both actors have acknowledged fans’ interest in their personal lives, with Hargitay joking about being falsely listed as Meloni’s wife on Wikipedia back in 2022. Meloni has been married to Williams since 1995, while Hargitay met her husband, Peter Hermann, on the set of SVU before their own 2004 nuptials.
“I mean, I don’t think I’ll be marrying him any time soon, but I am kind of like his second wife,” Hargitay told People in 2022. “Wife, therapist, bestie, sister, mother.”
At the time, Meloni said “the fandom goes nuts” over their onscreen chemistry, adding, “I think the über fans literally want our spouses to go away.”
Of course, the pair’s latest reunion came at a perfect time to break the internet. While the 26th season of Law & Order: SVU is currently airing on NBC, Meloni’s spin-off series Law & Order: Organized Crime, returns for its fifth season on April 17.
Are you okay, Law & Order fans?!
