Mayor of Indiana Town Asks NBC For Apology Over “Chicago P.D.” Episode

From Entertainment Weekly: the mayor of Crown Point, Indiana wants an apology from NBC over the portrayal of the town in a recent episode of Chicago P.D.  Mayor David Uran says the episode, “Army of One,” shows the town as racist, which he says is inaccurate and unfair. He told the Chicago Tribune that the episode has received pushback from many residents of the town. He notes that the storyline, which centers on the death of an African-American man involved in an interracial romance, does not resemble any incident in the town’s history.  Said the mayor, “We know it’s a fictional show…It’s a made-up scenario. There is no criminal case depicts what they were talking about. But we are a real city.”

Setting a fictional storyline is common on tv shows, but setting it in a small town can invite problems. Attorney Gordon Firemark notes that basing a story, even if it’s fictionalized, on a real incident, could lead to a lawsuit if a writer uses the real name of a particular town.  So, inventing an incident and placing it in a small town could invite claims that the statements about it are damaging to the residents’ reputations.