“The Boys,” Amazon Prime Video’s hit political satire series, mocked former President Donald Trump’s campaign stop at a McDonald’s in a social media post using the show’s superhero antagonist Homelander, a character the creators have said is a Trump metaphor and a key part of its critique of right-wing politics.
Former President Donald Trump worked at a McDonald's in Pennsylvania at a campaign appearance over ... [+]
“The Boys” made the post on its “Vought International” account, an account for the fictional entertainment conglomerate in the series that is led by the character Homelander, a superhero who is depicted as a power-hungry narcissist and a primary antagonist.
In the post, Homelander is pictured serving customers food at a drive-thru and says he “dreamed of working at his local Vought A Burger,” a fictional fast-food restaurant similar to McDonald’s.
The post says the Vought International company “shut down a restaurant and staged pre-selected customers, so Homelander could ‘serve’ ‘people’ ‘food,’” thanking Homelander for “showing everyone how you’re a true man of the people!”
The post appeared to take aim at Trump’s visit to a McDonald’s in Feasterville, Pennsylvania, during which the McDonald’s was reportedly closed and the customers he served were pre-selected by the company and his campaign staff.
“The Boys” creator Eric Kripke has long compared Homelander to Trump. Kripke said the series, which is set in a universe where superheroes are powerful political figures that engage in corrupt behavior, tells “a story about the intersection of celebrity and authoritarianism and how social media and entertainment are used to sell fascism.” Kripke told Rolling Stone in 2022 Homelander has “always been a Trump analogue for me,” citing the character’s “really combustible mix of complete weakness and insecurity, and just horrible power and ambition.” Some of the plot details in the show’s fourth and most recent season, which aired over the summer, have drawn comparisons to Trump, including Homelander facing a criminal trial and plotting a Jan. 6-like insurrection. Kripke has said the Trump similarities have grown more explicit over time, stating the writing team gets “angrier and more scared as the years go on.”
Some of the series’ satirical critiques of the right wing have flown over viewers’ heads, to the surprise of Kripke. One clip from the fourth season went viral on X this summer, in which a character gives a bizarre speech spouting QAnon-affiliated conspiracy theories and claiming children are forced to become transgender. In response to one X user who criticized the scene, another user garnered more than 400,000 likes tweeting: “It took some people 4 seasons to realize The Boys was making fun of them the whole time.” Kripke responded to some critics who called the fourth season “woke,” stating they can “watch something else.” He also expressed confusion over viewers who view Homelander as the series’ hero: “What do you say to that? The show’s many things. Subtle isn’t one of them.”
The show said similarities between “The Boys” and the real world are “coincidental and unintentional” after a plot point closely mirrored the assassination attempt on Trump in July. Days after Trump was shot at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, “The Boys” aired its season four finale, which was initially set to be titled “Assassination Run,” but the title was changed to “Season Four Finale.” In the episode, several characters plot to assassinate the president. The series denounced real-world political violence in a statement and attached a viewer discretion warning to the episode.