President Donald Trump’s Pentagon officials are not fans of Netflix’s “Boots,” a real-life military drama that follows a secret gay teenage recruit.
Pentagon spokesman Kingsley Wilson called the new series “woke garbage” in a statement obtained by Entertainment Weekly.
“Under President Trump and Secretary (Pete) Hegseth, the U.S. military is returning to a restored warrior spirit. Our standards are elite, uniformed, and gender-neutral across the board, because the weight of a backpack or a person does not matter whether they are male or female, gay or straight,” Wilson’s statement said. “Unlike Netflix, whose leadership is constantly producing and feeding woke garbage to viewers and children, we are not willing to compromise our standards to meet an ideological agenda.”
“Boots” is based on Greg Cope White’s memoir “The Pink Marine” and was released on Netflix on October 9th. “13 Reasons Why” actor Miles Heiser plays the role of Cameron Cope, who impulsively follows his best friend Ray McAfee (Liam Orr) into the military in the 1990s. The series is set four years before President Bill Clinton’s controversial “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy was implemented. Notably, the show features several openly gay actors, including Angus O’Brien as a frat boy petty officer and Max Parker as a secret drill sergeant.
“When we started filming the show[in 2023]I don’t think we had any intention of conveying a message that would be so relevant to today’s broadcast,” Heiser said in an interview with Variety. “But of course, as we were making it, things started to happen. It’s very interesting that Boots is set in 1990 and yet shines a light on what’s really going on in the present. It’s frustrating.”
“It’s also wild that we have a team of mostly queer people behind the scenes. I think it’s very unusual to have so many queer people and women coming together to make this show.”
Variety has reached out to Netflix for comment on the Pentagon’s statement.
