On a very different kind of case. Christopher Meloni is working on his fitness in a new Peloton ad — but he seems to have left his gym clothes at the office.
“Apparently, some people think the way I work out is strange,” the fully nude actor, 61, says in the video, which debuted on Thursday, July 14 (a.k.a. National Nude Day). “Honestly, I don’t get it. Me? I don’t think using the Peloton app is strange at all.”
The Law & Order: Organized Crime star’s NSFW parts are pixelated throughout the TV spot, which shows him lifting weights, practicing yoga and doing ab exercises. “I even use the app for running,” he quips at one point, running through a public park as a dog barks at his nudity. “Now does that seem strange to you?”
The ad closes out with a playful nod to the narration that begins every episode of Law & Order. “In the Peloton community, users are represented by two separate yet equally motivated groups,” a deep voice intones. “Those who wear pants … and Christopher Meloni.”
Unsurprisingly, the video immediately made waves on social media. “My guy @Chris_Meloni is a WILD MF!” tweeted Ice-T, who starred alongside the Runaway Bride actor on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. “I’m done … lol.” Ryan Reynolds also chimed in, writing: “This is a crime scene. Not an ad.”
Meloni, for his part, couldn’t resist giving the ad’s production crew a joking nod. “Shout out to the wardrobe dept on this one,” he joked via Twitter. “Those socks were amazing.”
Though the True Blood alum is known for playing a gruff cop on TV, he’s recently become an icon of a different sort thanks to his grueling workout regimen. In August 2021, he appeared on the cover of Men’s Health — this time nearly nude — alongside a headline that read, “The butt that broke the internet.”
Meloni noted that he didn’t initially understand why strangers online were calling him “Zaddy,” but he was happy to embrace his notoriety. “It’s reserved for an older gentleman,” he told the outlet of the term. “Daddy plus? Daddy platinum?”
After his butt became a meme, the Wet Hot American Summer star credited his superior genes for helping him achieve his fitness goals — but also his trainer.
“This is what has happened. I’ve been blessed with glutes that have an attractive shape,” he told Interview magazine in June 2021. “But I have a trainer, and we’re going through bodybuilding phases, and where everyone kind of caught me was that I’d been preparing for one year in a very high-intensity weight training program that actually focused on legs. So I guess you could argue that the glute-peeping public are now reaping the benefits of all that hard work.”
