Shemar Moore reveals how S.W.A.T beat COVID and why people called him ‘a sellout’

Shemar Moore reveals how cop drama S.W.A.T. beat the coronavirus pandemic and tackled the Black Lives Matter movement.

The coronavirus pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement have undoubtedly been two of the defining events of 2020.

But rather than avoid the globe-changing, hot-button, sometimes controversial issues, the producers and cast of S.W.A.T. successfully negotiated one and leaned hard into the other.

The fourth season of the hit police drama went into production in August when COVID-19 had shuttered most other Hollywood films and TV shows and lead actor Shemar Moore, who plays Sergeant Daniel “Hondo” Harrison, says it felt good to get back to work, despite the added health precautions.

“It’s tricky now with COVID and all the precautions and testing – I feel like I am a lab rat, they test me once or twice a day,” he says with a laugh.

“I have the q-tips in my nose and it feels like they are digging in my brain, I am coughing and spitting into a cup for all these tests but it’s for all the right reasons. It’s made shooting a little tricky – but we’re getting it done and staying safe and bringing S.W.A.T. to life.”

Shemar Moore plays Hondo in season four of the cop drama S.W.A.T.

Just a couple of months earlier, the Black Lives Matter movement peaked in the US, when half a million people in more than 500 locations around the country hit the streets in a single day to protest against the killing of African-American man George Floyd at the hands of police and ongoing racial discrimination in the law enforcement and justice communities.

With Hondo as a black policeman front and centre in the show’s action, S.W.A.T. was well placed to address the issue head on and Moore proudly wears the title “woke” in attempting to tackle “racial injustices in this country and around the world, with what went on with George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Jacob Blake and so many others”.

“Here we are with these tragedies in the streets between cops and civilians and we are bold,” he says. “Me being a lead actor, me being a black man, me being a black cop on television wearing the uniform that we see on the news and all the debate and controversies of that, I think we are the perfect show and a unique show that can address these issues.”

The first episode of the new series, which airs here on Sunday, dives headfirst into the thorny subject, drawing a line between the racially charged riots in Los Angeles in the suburb of Watts in 1965, then in 1992 following the beating of Rodney King at the hands of police, then the recent unrest sparked by Floyd’s death. How much then, has actually changed in the past half century?

Shemar Moore says he is aware of the sensitivity about playing a black cop in the Black Lives Matter era.

“That’s open for debate but I like to believe, like Hondo, that we have come a long way,” says Moore.

“I am the product of a black man who ran with the Black Panthers in Oakland, California, and a white woman from Boston. They saw past the colour of skin and I am a product of that.

“But are there wrongs in the street? Is the justice system cracked a little bit? Sure, but it doesn’t make them the enemy because I have met so many men and women in law enforcement, and been trained by them just so we can do this television show and I have heard their stories. They want better for all of us. They want more unity, more compassion, more understanding.”

Moore says he tries to keep away from politics on his social media, but says he hopes the incoming administration in the US will provide an opportunity for the nation to heal.

His mother – “my best friend and my mentor and my teacher” – died in February and while he was glad that she missed the worst of the pandemic, he’s sorry that she didn’t live to see Kamala Harris become the first woman – and the first woman of colour – Vice President.

“She’d be over the moon,” Moore says.

“I believe in character and I believe in basic goodness and I hate division. I just think that where we were, we were so divided. I don’t know what tomorrow is going to bring but I am an optimist. We all need a hug – and I feel like we have a chance at that.”

The seriously shredded Shemar Moore stays in shape for S.W.A.T. Picture: Getty Images

Moore says his late mother always taught him to stand his ground and be proud, but in the past he admits to being painfully aware of being bi-racial, wondering “am I black enough?” while also trying to stay true to his white heritage.

He brought those life experiences to his portrayal of Hondo, and says they come to the fore in this season of S.W.A.T. with the character questioning his choices and identity more than ever.

“Hondo is from South LA, I am from East Oakland – I know the ’hood, I know the challenges of remembering where you came from, staying true to who you are, staying true to being black,” Moore says.

“Even just with my success, people have called me a sellout, by being half white they call me a sellout or an Uncle Tom or a house N word. So, I have had to deal with all that and had to learn and mature to tune all that out.”

One of Moore’s close castmates is Aussie actor Alex Taylor – “Alex is great, I call him Dimples” – and the pair have been able to trade stories since Moore made a trip Down Under between his previous show Criminal Minds and the beginning of S.W.A.T.

And having made an episode in Tokyo for season three, Moore says he’d love to have a S.W.A.T. story with an Aussie flavour at some point.

“That would be great,” Moore says, enthusiastically.

“And we want to if you will have us, it’s just COVID messed all that up. Two years ago, we went to Mexico and last year we went to Tokyo and that was really the plan. Sony and CBS wanted to see if we could take S.W.A.T. worldwide. So, if you mean it, talk to your people!”

S.W.A.T. Season 4, Fox One, from January 17