SVU’ showrunner accused of bullying, sex harassment

For 24 seasons, “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” has been drawing in viewers with case after disturbing case.

But the on-screen drama is nothing compared with what’s allegedly been going on behind the scenes at the NBC juggernaut — the longest-running prime-time live-action series in history.

According to a Los Angeles Times report, David Graziano, who stepped in as “SVU” showrunner in June, has been accused of mistreating script coordinator Haley Cameron, leading her to quit the series. 

“David Graziano is a very unprofessional, ego-centric, and immature man. I have been in this industry a long time, and I have never experienced such pure, white-male misogyny,” said Cameron, in a post on a listserv circulated among script coordinators.

Describing the production under Graziano, also known as “Graz,” as “an absolute unorganized nightmare,” she added, “I urge you — especially women — to think twice before putting yourself in a position that could end as badly as mine did.”

Graziano’s spokesperson, Alafair Hall, denied Cameron’s claims in a statement to the Times.

“The implication that Mr. Graziano created a hostile work environment, or is sexist, inappropriate and unprofessional is false,” she said.

This isn’t first time the showrunner been accused of bad workplace behavior, ranging from alleged bullying to sexual harassment. A trail of complaints follows Graziano almost as far back as his résumé, including previous workplaces such as USA Network’s “In Plain Sight,” Fox’s “Lie to Me” and CBS All Access’ “Coyote.”

“Graz is super toxic and I’ve never run from a job so fast in my life as I did when I [worked] for him. Stay away,” wrote Amy Hartman, script coordinator under Graziano on “Coyote,” on the same thread as Cameron’s post.

“Every day I was in fight or flight,” Hartman told the Times. “I was completely floored that he was working again and working on [‘SVU’].”

While Graziano admitted in a statement that he was a “difficult person to work with” on “Coyote,” he denied making inappropriate comments about women or people of color.

While working on “Lie to Me,” Graziano allegedly became enraged with a junior writer over a casting decision, according to two individuals who were present at the time and a third show staffer who heard about it the next day. “He fired him on the spot, telling him to ‘pack his things and get the f–k out,’ ” recalled one of them.

Hall, though, disputed the account, saying that Graziano “told the insubordinate staff writer in a firm voice to leave the room.”

Meanwhile, a male writer on “Lie to Me” said Graziano “would talk in the writers’ room about how he might hit on women and how he would do it.”

A former assistant who worked under Graziano on “In Plain Sight” — who asked not to be identified — said that Graziano “talked about women’s bodies and the things he’d want to do with them” and joked about “wanting to hook up with me.”

While the former assistant was also working as a full-time nanny to Graziano’s twins, she claimed that he threw a pair of jeans at her and demanded that she buy him five more pairs.

“Mr. Graziano has never thrown an object at an employee,” said Hall in a statement.

But it isn’t just women who have accused Graziano of creating toxic work environments.

David James, who worked as a script coordinator on “Coyote,” described it as “easily the worst job I’ve had in Hollywood.”

“People constantly needed a moment,” James recalled. “There was so much crying in that office; it was daily.”

Paloma Lamb, who was a writers’ production assistant on “Coyote,” said that Graziano would even lash out about his lunch orders being wrong. “If his tortilla chips were wrong he’d be pissed,” she said. Plus, Lamb added, “He always commented on women’s appearances.”

Describing the “Coyote” culture under Graziano as “a very masculine work area,” one writer said that “he took more liberty shutting down ideas with female writers than male writers.” 

But Hall said that “Mr. Graziano adamantly denies discriminating against, mistreating, or being dismissive of female writers.”

And Jessica Butler, a former TV writer who worked with Graziano on “In Plain Sight,” told the Times that “I did not have a negative experience with him.” Still, she added, “I don’t want to say anything that discounts the experience of other women.”