SVU Cameo Hits Different Now

U.S. President, former Vice President, and onetime Delaware Senator Joe Biden appeared on "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" as himself in an episode that premiered on September 28, 2016 during the show's 18th season (via IMDb). Upon its opening, he congratulates Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) on working to close sexual assault cases, which tied into a real-life campaign Biden led and promoted on his Twitter account on the day of the episode's premiere.

At that point in time, Biden was on the brink of concluding his tenure as Vice President, making the future of his career somewhat uncertain. Furthermore, in the years immediately following his vice presidency, Biden was publicly unsure about whether or not he would join the presidential race in 2020 (via The Atlantic).

When his "SVU" episode's premiered, then, Biden was plenty famous, primarily due to his number two position in the Obama administration. Nevertheless, neither at that time nor during the immediate aftermath of the episode airing was there much indication that Biden would become the president of the United States in a matter of years. Now, "SVU" fans can officially look back on this episode as a time that the 46th president of the United States joined the series' sprawling cast.