Law & Order: SVU fans are furious and say they feel “cheated” after the show “faked” a steamy “kiss” between Benson & Stabler

LAW & Order fans are furious after the show failed to deliver a hot kiss between Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler.

A trailer teasing the highly-anticipated kiss was released ahead of the latest episode of Law & Order: SVU.

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During Thursday’s episode, fans were stunned when Olivia and Stabler – played by Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni – touched lips.

The episode began with Olivia working on a challenging case where she felt threatened to herself and her son.

Viewers watched as Olivia dealt with the aftermath of a violent attack that would, among other things, take the lives of her and her son.

Her attacker, Oscar Papa (Goya Robles), was on trial along with several others, and she eagerly awaited the results of that hearing.

She visits him in his prison cell for a tense chat, letting him know, “Nobody threatens my son without any consequences.”

Later in the episode, she reveals that Elliot drives her son home from there for his safety, saying, “There’s nobody I trust more.”

Shortly after this conversation, Elliot can be seen in Olivia’s apartment.

“Why did not you call me?” he asks, referring to the recent attack.

Olivia replies, “Because I knew you would try to protect me.”

Elliot asks, “And what’s wrong with that?”

Moments later, they are almost seen kissing before Olivia stops and says, “Elliot, I do. I want but I can not.”

She explains her reasoning and says, “Because what if it doesn’t work?” adding: “I’m not ready for this.

After the big hickey, viewers took to Twitter to share their thoughts.

Many were furious, noting that the show showed the highly anticipated moment right through to the final seconds of the episode.

One user wrote: “I’m over it at this point. As if dragging along was ridiculous.”

Another tweeted: “Well that was a bulls**t! I can’t say I didn’t name it (to myself because you all scare me).

Another chimed in: “Liv is not ready. Cheated by a promo once again.”

A fourth fan tweeted: “Why are you playing with my feelings? They’re either together or they don’t stop playing with me.”

Another viewer added: “I knew it was going to be a joke. I knew it.”

However, not everyone was angry.

One Twitter user wrote: “SHE SAID SHE WANTED BUT SHE IS NOT READY AND SCARED SO THIS IS A HUGE HUGE WIN IN MY BOOKS???????

Another tweeted: “Please as I knew they wouldn’t kiss but that was a confession anyway!! Now they both know their true feelings.” re

THE FIFTH Pleading

Christopher was grilled over the kiss during an appearance on Today.

Hosts Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb fired question after question at the star after seeing the steamy embrace between his character and Mariska in teasers.

“There are very few people whose face you can hold with your hands like that,” Hoda said.

“We’re colleagues, we don’t hold each other’s faces like that,” Savannah interjected.

“Not like that, not even.”

The two then began analyzing the image, claiming that Mariska’s figure was moving sideways while being very close to Chris’ face.

“Well, what is that? What’s going on?” Savannah asked.

Initially, Chris seemed to insist the hug wasn’t anything romantic, saying, “She has something very important to tell me.”

He then suggested Benson was “part of the Eskimos.”

“A little Eskimo kiss?” he quipped.

Savannah and Hoda continued to press the actor.

“We’re going to put law and order on you in a moment,” Savannah said before the lights on the set dimmed and a spotlight landed on Chris.

“Lord, you were there. You were in the apartment, you had the motive and you had the means: your lips.

“Did you kiss her or not?”

After a few moments, Chris jokingly invoked his right to an attorney.

“I want my lawyer,” he joked.

KISS CHAOS

The hug was featured in footage released by the network before the episode aired.

The Today image in question was part of a promo published weeks ago.

Fans who have campaigned for Benson and Stabler to transition from platonic to romantic were quick to freak out at the possibility.

“Did anyone else rewind, pause, slow motion, stand in front of the TV at least 100 times for that final scene to understand what was going on like I did? No? My eyes were shaking!” one fan wrote in a comment section for the teaser.

“AHHHH!!! Could this finally happen!!??? I don’t want to get my hopes up too high but I’m so excited,” said another.

“OHMYGOD I’VE WAITED FOR YEARS,” wrote a third.

FAN RAGE

Previously, fans were upset after the network opted to air a rerun before the kissing episode.

Viewers settled in front of their TVs to watch the kiss and were treated to an old episode of Law & Order: SVU instead.

Unfortunately it didn’t come to that as it was a night of reruns for all the Law & Order shows – Original, SVU and Organized Crime.

The show went on a brief hiatus but resumed Thursday with the latest episode.

One angry fan simply tweeted, “Why is #SVU a rerun!”

Another angry viewer insisted, “They want to torture us after that promo last week.”

A third wanted to know: “Why do we have to wait?”

A fourth agreed, writing: “I know, especially after the promo then let’s wait 2 weeks.”

“You got us dirty with this promo and now the wait,” tweeted another angry fan. “Rude!”

For years, fans have been begging to see Benson and Stabler get together romantically.

After years away from the franchise, viewers felt it was a lost cause.

Slowly, after Christopher returned as Elliot for his own spinoff Law & Order: Organized Crime, fans began to find hope again.

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