It’s not uncommon to see a cavalcade of asses on the timeline, but one derriere dwarfed them all this week.
The butt in question is that of Christopher Meloni, whose extended TV and cinema canon includes the part of NYPD detective Elliot Stabler on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and the recently launched spin-off Organized Crime. For those who are well-studied on Twitter and/or butt meme history, the Meloni name is a familiar one.
The pastime was enthusiastically revived this week, however, thanks to the surfacing of an on-set photo of a masked Meloni:
As the commentary started stacking up, Meloni himself eventually weighed in with a response to one fan’s inquiry as to “why you have so much cake.” According to Meloni, he chalked it up to a holy trinity of sorts: “big birthday (60), big boy (200 lbs), and big cake.”
In an interview on Wednesday that included zero talk of this variety, Meloni revealed he was unprepared for the fan reaction to his Law & Order return.
“This time around, I think the pressure’s off,” Meloni told People. “I feel less pressure than I did when [Dick Wolf] first tasked me with being Elliot Stabler. So I’m a little freer to appreciate everything. It’s a nice journey.”
