Mykelti Williamson says John Oliver‘s dissection of ‘Law & Order’ as pro-cop propaganda is too serious for his own good — ’cause at the end of the day … it’s showbiz, baby.

We got the veteran actor — who recently had a starring role on “Law & Order: Organized Crime” — responding to JO’s anti-Dick Wolf rant while he was leaving LAX … and his response to John’s very serious critique of the long-running franchise is a dash of real talk.

The truth, according to Mykelti, is that DW — the creator of ‘Law & Order’ — is a class act … especially when it comes to telling authentic stories about POC, so there’s that.

On the issue of ‘L&O’ depicting police in too rosy a light, Mykelti is sorta giving an eye roll here — first noting the show has attempted to tackle real-world issues within their plots (which is true) and secondly … rightly pointing out ‘L&O’ is good old-fashioned entertainment.

As he explains to our photog, the truth is ugly and complicated — with people already getting their fill of reality in their day-to-day lives … and looking to TV for some escapism.

He also suggests that people aren’t tuning into ‘Law & Order’ for virtue signaling … they just want a tight 43 minutes of a cop chasing down a bad guy and cracking the case — a formula John thinks has been rinsed and repeated for far too long, unrealistically.

But, Mykelti — who, BTW, is also doing big things outside of TV with his Warrior Recovery Program for vets/first responders — thinks this debate’s more simple than John’s making it.