James Waterston (Congressman Luke Bolton) is the son of Sam Waterston, who played Executive ADA / District Attorney Jack McCoy in Law & Order (1990) from 1994 to 2010.
This episode appears to be based on the December 2016 news story of a man who drove from Salisbury, North Carolina in response to a fake news story that Hillary Clinton was running a child sex ring in a Washington DC pizza shop that became known as "Pizzagate." The 28-year old man went to self-investigate with an assault rifle and fired shots.
This is the first SVU episode in which Fin is referred to as a Sergeant, having passed the exam. In Decline and Fall (2017), it was mentioned that Fin was studying for the exam and Carisi had asked if there was any news on the results in Net Worth (2017).
The title of this episode is inspired by comments made by Donald Trump's spokeswoman towards the media.
Kevin Carolan has played three different roles over the course of the series:
- Episode 18.17 Real Fake News (2017) - Ronald Fleming
- Episode 10.22 Zebras (2009) - Paul
- Episode 3.5 Tangled (2001) - Officer Farlow