Katharina Buczek
“So much for waiting for Amanda and Carisi, and this breaks my heart,” wrote a second user.
“I am really going to miss you. I don’t want you to leave,” added a third, followed by crying emojis.
And tragically, it appears that Kelli did not really want to leave the show either– because showrunner David Graziano later issued a statement regarding her departure.
“You might take a moment to entertain the idea that things are more complex than they appear in a world of emojis and tweets,” David said in an interview with TVLine.
“All I’ll say is Kelli has handled this with the most incredibly classy comportment. She is, without a doubt, one of the finest industry professionals I’ve come across in my 24 years of writing television.”
What exactly happened that forced Kelli to maintain her grace and composure behind the scenes is still under speculation, though.
Variety has since reported that Kelli’s leave was a “call made from above” in order to “keep the show as up to date and current as possible.”
And apparently, Mariska Hargitay and Dick Wolf both pushed for the star to remain on board. However, the decision was reportedly already final and coupled with stalemates regarding salary negotiations and character Detective Amanda Rollin’s future on the show.
Nonetheless, fans honestly do not care about this call from the higher-ups. Instead, they believe that the public has proved their love for Kelli.
Plus, some have even taken to Change.org in order to petition for the star to be kept in the show’s production.
“It has come to light that she [Kelli] was recently fired for a wrongful reason, and that is not okay. Kelli deserved more respect than what she got. This is an outrage and a prime example of how this industry views and treats women,” the petition states.
