Shemar Moore Says Cancelling S.W.A.T. 'Makes No Sense,' Hopes CBS Will 'Realize They Made a Mistake'

S.W.A.T. fans aren’t happy that CBS cancelled the drama after six seasons — and neither is star Shemar Moore.

Moore, who plays Hondo on the long-running procedural, responded to the cancellation news in an Instagram video, admitting: “I’m a little bit sad. I’m a lot of bit sad… S.W.A.T. got cancelled. It makes no sense.” He pointed to the show’s ratings: “The last two years, we’ve been killing it… We’ve done nothing wrong. We’ve done everything that was asked for.” He also underlined the show’s diversity: “Did you know that I am the only African American male lead on network TV?… S.W.A.T. is the most diverse show on CBS.”

(For the record, CBS when it comes to diversity also has The Neighborhood starring Cedric the Entertainer, East New York led by Amanda Warren and The Equalizer fronted by Queen Latifah, while shows like The CW’s All American also have Black leading men.)

He added that when he posts this video, “I will get in a lot of trouble with CBS because I’m calling them out because they’ve been wonderful to me for 26 out of my 29-year career. But to abruptly get told that you’re cancelled when you led us to believe last week, and the week before that, that we would have some semblance of a Season 7 to at least say goodbye, if not continue, and to abruptly be told you’re done… now there’s a lot of politics, a lot of things called licensing, a lot of you won’t understand what that means… it’s all about money, y’all.”

But he ended on an upbeat note: “I don’t think we’re done. CBS is either gonna wake up and realize they made a mistake. Sony is gonna do their math and realize that this is not the right move. I hope we can have a kumbaya and come back together and continue this show because it’s a good time for families across the world.”

CBS cancelled S.W.A.T. on Friday, and the May 19 season finale will now serve as a series finale. This season, S.W.A.T. has averaged 6.8 million total viewers and a 0.7 rating, up 6% in audience and off just a tenth in the demo from its Season 5 numbers. But as Deadline reported in March, the Sony TV/CBS Studios co-production was facing some belt-tightening before any renewal was handed out.

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