The Pentagon has slammed Netflix for producing “woke trash” following the release of hit gay military drama Boots.
The show, based on Greg Cope White’s 2015 memoir The Pink Marine, tells the story of a closeted teenager who enlists in the United States Marine Corps in the 1990s.
In a statement originally shared with Entertainment Weekly, Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson said: “Under the leadership of President Trump and Secretary (Pete) Hegseth, the United States military is returning to restoring the ethos of the warrior. Our standards at all levels are elite, uniform, and gender neutral, because the weight of a backpack or a human being cannot doesn’t care if you’re a man, a woman, gay or straight.”
He added: “We will not compromise our standards to satisfy an ideological agenda, unlike Netflix whose executives systematically produce and feed woke garbage to their audiences and children. »
The Guardian’s Stuart Heritage called the show, which is currently the sixth most-watched show in the world on the platform, “incredibly powerful”. The Hollywood Reporter said the show was “critical of the military’s anti-gay policies in the 1990s”, while also being “respectful of the military in many ways and quite positive about the brotherly aspects of enlisted life”.
Miles Heizer, the gay actor who plays the lead role, recently spoke about the series’ relevance. “When filming on the series started (in 2023), I don’t think we intended to convey this message that is so relevant to serve today,” Heizer said. “But of course, as we did it, all these things started happening. It’s very interesting that Boots is shining a light on what’s really happening today, even though the show is set in 1990. It’s upsetting.”
The backlash comes as many on the right criticize Netflix for the diversity of its content. Earlier this month, Elon Musk tried to get users to cancel their subscriptions over a resurfaced clip showing a transgender character in the animated series Dead End: Paranormal Park. Musk, who has a transgender daughter, called on his 227 million X followers to cancel for “the health of your children.”
Zach Barack, the character’s trans actor, responded by writing, “You can be scary all you want, but kids and parents have told me it saved their lives!! »
Netflix remains the overwhelming leader in the streaming market, with 301.6 million paying users in more than 190 countries.
In June, Hegseth, a former Fox News pundit and now US defense secretary, ordered the US Navy to remove the name of gay activist Harvey Milk from one of its ships. The decision was due to the fact that Hegseth had “reestablished the warrior culture” of the army.
Sean Penn, who directed the Oscar-winning biopic Milk, and screenwriter Dustin Lance Black have both criticized the decision. “These guys are idiots,” Black told The Hollywood Reporter. “Pete Hegseth doesn’t seem like an intelligent man, a wise man, a knowledgeable man. He seems small and petty. I would love to introduce him to LGBTQ people who are warriors who have had to be warriors their whole lives just to openly live their lives as we are.”
The news also comes as the Pentagon comes under fire for insisting that journalists sign a new set of policies that would limit the quality and reliability of their work. In response, many prominent news outlets handed in their badges.
