Netflix has announced the LGBTIQA+ themed series Boots has been cancelled after just a single season despite the show getting rave reviews.
The series was based on The Pink Marine, the autobiography of Greg Cope White. It shares the real life experience of Cope, a young gay man, joining the marines in the 1990s, at a time when the US military actively sought out and discharged LGBTIQA+ personnel.
The show starred Miles Heizer playing Cameron Cope who joins the marines and then tries to keep his sexuality a secret. Liam Oh played his best friend Ray McAffey, while British actor Max Parker portrayed instructor Sergeant Sullivan who has his own secrets to protect. The show also featured a talent cast of actors who played the other members of the company.
The cancelation comes as a surprises as Netflix had extended the contract options on many of the actors from the series suggesting a second series had been under consideration.
Miles Heizer, Liam Oh, Kieron Moore, Dominic Goodman, Angus O’Brien, Blake Burt and Rico Paris had all been asked to make sure they were available.
The show had a long development before getting to audiences. It was originally green lit in 2023 and shepherded by legendary producer Norman Lear.
The show began filming in 2023 but was forced to close down production due to the Hollywood strikes, it picked up production a year later. By the time filming resumed Lear had passed away at the age of 101.
The show was criticised by Pentagon officials who labeled the series “woke garbage”.
Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson told Entertainment Weekly the series was part of Netflix’s “ideological agenda” while the current administration was focused on bringing back a “warrior ethos” to the armed forces.
“Under President Trump and Secretary Hegseth, the U.S. military is getting back to restoring the warrior ethos. Our standards across the board are elite, uniform, and sex neutral because the weight of a rucksack or a human being doesn’t care if you’re a man, a woman, gay, or straight,” Wilson told the magazine.
At the time that Cope joined the marines the government has an active policy of seeking out and discharging army, navy, and air force. Under the watch of President Bill Clinton the ‘Don’t ask, Don’t Tell’ policy was implemented in 1993. It remained in place until 2011 when it was repealed by President Barack Obama. The military then became more welcoming of both gay and transgender people.
Under current President Donald Trump transgender personnel have been forced to leave the services, while references to LGBTIQA+ people have been removed including renaming a ship honouring the late Harvey Milk.
Wilson told Entertainment Weekly the the US government “will not compromise our standards to satisfy an ideological agenda, unlike Netflix whose leadership consistently produces and feeds woke garbage to their audience and children.”
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