The right's war on Netflix continues.
On Friday, the Pentagon released a statement criticizing the streamer's programming and management following a request for a new series.Boots“from Entertainment Weekly. While Pentagon spokesman Kingsley Wilson's response did not directly address the war show about coming of age as a gay man, he criticized Netflix for following an “ideological agenda” that “feeds woke crap to their audience and children.”
“Under President Trump and the Secretary of State [Pete] Hegseth, the US military is returning to restoring the warrior spirit,” Wilson said in a statement. “Our standards across the board are elitism, uniformity and sex neutrality, because the weight of a pack or a person does not matter whether you are a man, a woman, gay or straight. We will not compromise our standards to satisfy an ideological agenda, unlike Netflix, whose management continually produces and feeds woke garbage to its audience and children.”
The Trump administration's efforts to restore this “warrior spirit” have so far included ban transgender people from military service, body shaming top in military style and other military personnel and announcing the end of “woke” culture and politics. The statement came amid the Pentagon's efforts to implement the new law. unprecedentedly restrictive media policy it describes the underlying methods of reporting as criminal activity.
“Boots” is based on Greg Cope White's 2016 memoir “Pink Marine.” Cam Cope (Miles Heizer)a gay teenager who enlisted in the Marines at a time when it was still a crime to be gay in the military. Noting the series' timely themes, Times television critic Robert Lloyd called it “a perfectly decent, good-hearted and unsurprisingly sentimental miniseries” in his review.
The show's creators also worked closely with several consultants with military experience to authentically portray the Marine Corps and military life in the 1990s.
The Pentagon's criticism of Netflix follows the recent… campaign led by billionaire Elon Musk urging people to cancel their subscription to the streamer. Trump ally again/not spoke out against Netflix on X earlier this month after clips of “Dead End: Paranormal Activity Park,” a Netflix animated series starring a trans character, circulated across the social media platform. The show was canceled after its second season in 2022.
While Netflix has been the target of right-wing ire, it has also repeatedly come under fire for its anti-trans programming. In 2021 transphobic remarks made by comedian Dave Chappelle in his special “The Closer” led to protestsstrikes and even resignation trans employee. The streamer followed suit in 2022 with a comedy special from Ricky Gervais there was also transphobic material.
