Amazon Prime Video's "The Boys" has turned into an anti-Trump political screed since it made the character Homelander a stand-in for Donald Trump in season 3. Now, Prime Video has placed a content warning on its season finale, originally titled "Assassination Run," as it comes out only a week after an attempt on the former president's life.
The Season 4 finale came out today and contained this warning: "Viewer discretion advised – This episode contains scenes of fictional political violence. Any similarities to recent events are completely coincidental and unintentional. Prime Video, Amazon MGM Studios, Sony Pictures Television and the producers of The Boys oppose, in the strongest terms, real-world violence of any kind."
In addition to the statement, they removed the "Assassination Run" title of the episode from their listing, which currently displays only as "Season Four Finale."
The Boys Season Finale was originally titled "Assassination Run," but they removed it because it obviously has major parallels to the real-life assassination attempt on President Trump. pic.twitter.com/JWz6Cg8XX2
— Jon Del Arroz (@jondelarroz) July 18, 2024
Despite their statement and title removal, the episode is an allegory for what the leftists believe happened on January 6th, based on rumors from the fake news media and angry rhetoric from the Biden administration. In the episode, Homelander and the Seven deputize an army of superheroes to round up dissenters around the country while purging "traitors" from a fictional company called Vought International.
The clear intent of this episode is to propagandize viewers into believing that Donald Trump will be a fascist dictator who needs to be stopped at all costs—the exact sort of violent rhetoric that may have caused an unhinged shooter to attempt to take President Trump's life last Saturday.
The final episode has an assassination attempt on the president, with a shapeshifter disguised as Starlight attacking him. Much like the actual attempt on President Trump's life, this attempt fails, but the writers then have the incoming VP-elect murdered, resulting in the president's arrest because he ordered it.
It's clear to see this is a deranged version of President Trump in the heads of the writers; they view him as a complete monster who has to be removed. By showing Homelander, the Trump stand-in character, creating an army and rounding up dissenters, as well as showing a president arrested for ordering the assassination of a rival, it's clear this show intended to push this hateful vision of Trump on the show's viewers.
Showrunner Eric Kripke has also indicated as much, saying in 2020 in an interview with Screenrant, "We were really interested in exploring the idea of authority figures getting the public really riled up with xenophobia and racism, but ultimately, the most dangerous people are the white dudes standing next to you. We wanted to reflect that story. So, the supervillains are, in a way, a misdirect."
He went more unhinged at the 2022 Saturn Awards in a speech: "The message of 'The Boys' is, in the real world, anyone who stands in front of you and says that they're here to save you is f***ing lying and trying to sell you something. We all have a responsibility to save each other, taking care of the people next to you in a thousand, boring, unremarkable moments every day, and that is how the world gets saved."
He concluded by saying "an eleven-foot high, twenty-foot long pe**s with a urethra tunnel, and I can't think of a better tribute to the man. So, thank you everyone. Please vote. F*** MAGA. Have a good night."
Here we have the rest of @therealKripke acceptance speech for @TheBoysTV ! #SaturnAwards pic.twitter.com/4O8k7DnJKD
— Rhiannon/FAN (@HughiesBoys) October 26, 2022
Kripke has also claimed that his vision of President Trump directly inspired an episode in 2023 with Homelander murdering a protestor.
When pressed on the topic by Hollywood Reporter this year, Kripke said, "I'm not shy about putting that perspective in the show. Anyone who wants to call the show 'woke' or whatever, that's OK. Go watch something else."
It's clear what Prime Video's "The Boys" is intended to do. They know very well that when President Trump took a bullet in real life, having this episode come out so close to that would be a terrible look for the show's creators and for Amazon Prime Video as a whole, which is why they put the disclaimer on it. As we've seen with hateful statements from Kyle Gass from Tenacious D—which caused his bandmate Jack Black to cancel a tour as well as Gass's agent to drop him—Hollywood knows the tide has turned, and they can't get away with their disgusting rhetoric as they have for the last eight years.
Given the content of the episode and the showrunner's past hateful statements, it's hard to believe they don't condone political violence as the disclaimer claims. It feels more like they're trying to protect themselves from potential liability, given how damning "Assassination Run" is in the context of what's happening in the election. At this point, the content warning isn't enough, and at the very least, Eric Kripke and his cronies should apologize for the hate they're spewing through "The Boys."
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