Key Points
The New York Knicks’ star point guard, Jalen Brunson, says he wants to appear on Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.
Brunson made the declaration after the Knicks won their first NBA championship in over 50 years on Saturday.
A video SVU star Mariska Hargitay hugging and congratulating Brunson after the team’s win previously went viral.
Jalen Brunson is ready for his close-up.
The star point guard and captain of the New York Knicks wants to appear on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit after leading his team to a historic victory in the NBA championships.
When asked by reporters what’s next for him after Saturday’s big win, Brunson smiled and offered, in a clip shared by the NBA on Sunday, “Try to go to SVU.”
New York, the city that both Brunson’s team and the police procedural call home, isn’t the only thing that connects them.
The Law & Order spinoff’s series-long star, Mariska Hargitay, has been a loyal New York Knicks fan for years. Hargitay’s fervent support of the team ratcheted up and up as they advanced through the championship against the San Antonio Spurs, as she frequently attended games, one time in customized, Knicks-colored shirts sporting Knicks puns with friends Taylor Swift and the Haim sisters.
After closing a 29-point gap to win Game 4 on Wednesday, Hargitay remarked, “I love my husband, and our wedding night was great and all, but I think it might have been the greatest night of my life.” Her love was so great it even spilled over into her own off-season work, starring in the one-person play Every Brilliant Thing while SVU is between seasons. During Thursday’s performance, Hargitay pulled out a Brunson jersey, causing the audience to erupt in applause.
The love affair between Hargitay and Brunson is hardly one-sided. During the championships, Madison Square Garden’s “Celebrity Row” has been packed with A-listers like Spike Lee, Sydney Sweeney, Ben Stiller, and Martha Stewart. But when asked to pick his favorite Knicks fan on Wednesday, Brunson responded, “My number one, love her to death, she knows it… Mariska Hargitay.”
The two even hugged after Game 4, in a viral clip that showed Hargitay telling Brunson, “I love you so much, I’m so happy.”
The Law & Order franchise is a notoriously guest star-friendly place. Numerous single-episode and multi-episode arc guests have even won Emmys for their performances on the show, from Ellen Burstyn to Cynthia Nixon.
Hargitay’s series, which was created by Dick Wolf, produced by his Wolf Entertainment, and has aired on NBC since its inception in 1999, has even hosted its fair share of athletes as guest stars.
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Brunson hasn’t been confirmed as a player on the series’ upcoming 28th season, but he would fit right in alongside Serena Williams, who appeared on a season 5 episode, and Carmelo Anthony, who appeared on a season 13 episode.
Entertainment Weekly has reached out to representatives for Hargitay, NBC, and Wolf Entertainment for comment.

Timothée Chalamet, who was a courtside staple at Madison Square Garden during the NBA Finals, told SportsCenter that he would “way rather” have a New York Knicks championship than an Oscar.
“Way rather this than the Oscars! Come on, baby!” Chalamet said courtside at the Frost Bank Center on Saturday night, moments after the Knicks defeated the San Antonio Spurs and claimed the NBA title in a 4-1 series. “Knicks are champions, baby!”
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The celebration didn’t stop there. Chalamet made it inside the locker room to celebrate the win with his hometown team. In a video of the “Complete Unknown” star partying with the Knicks, an off-camera voice asked Chalamet if he wanted goggles to protect his eyes from the champagne showers. Chalamet replied, “I don’t deserve them. I’m not an athlete. Usually, I have a stunt double do that.”
Chalamet has been nominated three times at the Oscars, and all three times were for best actor. He landed his first nomination for “Call Me by Your Name” in 2018, his second for “A Complete Unknown” in 2025 and his latest for “Marty Supreme” in 2026. While Chalamet has waited eight years so far to land his first Oscar win, the Knicks had to wait 53 years to win another title. Their last championship run was in 1973 against the Los Angeles Lakers, who, coincidentally, they beat 4-1.
Chalamet wasn’t the only A-lister who watched the Knicks live during the finals. Other stars who sat courtside at MSG include Spike Lee, Larry David, Adam Sandler, Jerry Seinfeld, Mariska Hargitay, Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, Tracy Morgan and Taylor Swift. President Donald Trump also stopped by for Game 3 at the Garden, becoming the first sitting president in history to attend the NBA Finals. Game 3 also happened to be the only one the Knicks lost.
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Tyra Banks has filed a defamation lawsuit against Netflix and the directors of its docuseries “Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model,” alleging that the producers stripped down hours of interview footage to construct a false narrative.
In the lawsuit filed Saturday in Los Angeles federal court, the model who created and hosted “America’s Next Top Model” said she was interviewed for 3 ½ hours, during which she took responsibility for some of the show’s controversial decisions. Those interviews were edited down to 16 minutes and manipulated “to support a false and defamatory narrative unrelated to what she actually expressed,” the lawsuit said.
“The accountability Ms. Banks took ended up on the cutting room floor. It was there, but viewers were never given the opportunity to see it,” her lawyers wrote.
Banks is seeking damages in her lawsuit against Netflix, the directors Daniel Sivan and Mor Loushy and EverWonder Studio. She’s also seeking an injunction barring the use of her image in connection with the docuseries’ soundtrack, released as an album.
Emails seeking comments were sent Sunday to the defendants’ representatives.
“America’s Next Top Model” launched in 2003 and ran for 24 seasons. In recent years, the reality competition series has undergone a critical reevaluation over accusations of body shaming, manipulation of contestants and problematic photoshoots. Banks has previously addressed those criticisms, acknowledging “the insensitivity of past ANTM moments” and “some really off choices.”
The lawsuit contends that the producers of the Netflix docuseries used “selective editing, deliberate omission, and surgical manipulation of continuous footage” to formulate a narrative that Banks allowed a contestant to be sexually assaulted on the show, used the contestant’s trauma to drum up ratings and then couldn’t remember it when asked during the interviews.
“Defendants edited the Netflix Series to make it appear that Ms. Banks knew she was being asked about a sexual assault and was intentionally trying to evade the topic,” the lawsuit stated, contending that Banks hadn’t been told — or asked — about the assault during the interview.
Banks’ lawyers wrote that she wasn’t permitted to review the docuseries until a day before its Feb. 16 release. According to the lawsuit, she had not been contacted for fact-checking after her interviews, and was not given an opportunity to respond to accusations from other participants. Other judges from the show, including one her lawyers contend holds a grudge against Banks, consulted on the docuseries.
“Had Ms. Banks known these individuals were so deeply involved in the formulation of the Netflix Series, also serving as consultants shaping the editorial direction, and that she had been excluded from such a role, it would have raised a red flag,” the lawsuit read. “She would have known she was being set up. She would not have participated.”
Banks’ lawyers reached out to Netflix in March to request access to the full footage of her interviews. Netflix and EverWonder denied that request, according to the lawsuit. Since the docuseries’ release, public reaction has been “swift, harsh, and directed squarely at Ms. Banks” — even SMiZE & DREAM, her ice cream shop in Sydney, Australia, has been subject to review bombing on Google, the lawsuit read.
The Associated Press sent an email seeking further detail from Banks’ lawyers and representatives on Sunday.
“Every other conversation about ANTM’s legacy — including the candid reflection Ms. Banks came prepared to have — is now drowned out by an accusation she was never given the chance to answer,” her lawyers wrote. “This lawsuit is that answer — particularly after her efforts to resolve the matter directly with Netflix and the producers were refused.”

Two helicopters have collided in mid-air over the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, killing all six people on board, local authorities said.
Officials have launched an investigation into the cause of Sunday morning’s crash over a western suburb of the city called Recreio dos Bandeirantes.
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Firefighters said the helicopters collided before plummeting into the parking lot of an electric car dealership, setting about 20 vehicles on fire.
Fire services spokesman Fabio Contreiras said the blaze was difficult to extinguish because of toxic gases released by lithium-ion batteries in the electric vehicles.
“When this type of battery catches fire, it releases highly toxic gases and intensifies both the temperature and severity of the blaze,” Contreiras said.
“Extinguishing a fire in one of these vehicles requires three to four times the amount of water needed for a standard car fire.”
He added that the surrounding area was densely populated and that the death toll would have been far higher had the helicopters not crashed into the car park.
Contreiras said rescue workers had discovered one helicopter in flames among the electric cars, with five victims inside. A second helicopter, found about 100m (328 feet) away, was carrying only the pilot, who also died.
Debris from the helicopters was found hundreds of metres from the crash site. Footage shared online showed a thick plume of smoke rising from the car park into the sky.
Contreiras said authorities would need to review recordings of the incident before the cause of the crash could be confirmed.
Helicopter crashes are common in Brazil.
According to statistics from the Center for Investigation and Prevention of Aeronautical Accidents (CENIPA), there had been 84 aircraft accidents in 2026 prior to Sunday’s crash.

NEW YORK (AP) — New Yorkers who weren’t partied out after the Knicks championship found another excuse to celebrate on Sunday as the National Puerto Rican Day Parade marched through Manhattan with pulsing music and vibrant colors.
Tens of thousands of spectators lined Fifth Avenue under sunny skies to watch marchers decked out in red-white-and-blue. This year’s honorees included rapper and singer Daddy Yankee, who served as grand marshal, and actor Anthony Ramos, who was part of the original Broadway cast of “Hamilton.”
Mayor Zohran Mamdani drew cheers as he clutched a small Puerto Rico flag and wore a Knicks jersey over a shirt and tie.
The event, which bills itself as America’s largest cultural celebration, honors the contributions of Puerto Ricans on their home island and throughout the nation and world. It’s a been a June tradition in the city since the late 1950s.
U.S. Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez and jazz musician Charlie Sepulveda were recognized with lifetime achievement awards.
The parade was traveling along Fifth Avenue in Manhattan from 44th Street to 79th Street, spanning 35 city blocks.
The National Puerto Rican Day Parade Scholarship Gala was held on Friday, celebrating academic excellence and student achievement.