US government calls Netflix gay military series ‘Boots’ “woke garbage” in unhinged rant

The US government has called new Netflix gay military series Boots “woke garbage” when asked to comment on the hit new series.

Boots is a new coming-of-age comedy drama inspired by the memoir, The Pink Marine, of former marine Greg Cope. It follows the coming-out of character Cameron Cope (Miles Heizer) as a recruit in the US army in the 90s at a time when being gay in the military was still illegal.

An official Netflix synopsis reads: “After impulsively joining the U.S. Marine Corps, a bullied teen finds new purpose – and unexpected brotherhood – with his motley team of fellow recruits.” Andy Parker (Tales Of The City) and Jennifer Cecil (The Umbrella Academy) serve as co-showrunners on the series, with Norman Lear as executive producer.

Heizer and Liam Oh lead the show’s cast, alongside Vera Farmiga, Max Parker, Cedrick Cooper, Ana Ayora, Angus O’Brien, Dominic Goodman, Nicholas Logan, Kieron Moore, Blake Burt and Rico Paris.

Now, a spokesperson for the US government has told Entertainment Weekly that it does not support Netflix’s “ideological agenda” amid the release of the new series.

Pete Hegseth, the US defence secretary has drawn criticism in recent months after he removed the name of Harvey Milk from a Navy ship. Milk was a gay activist, politician and former sailor who was assassinated in 1978.

Amid President Trump’s push to limit diversity and inclusion initiatives, there were also reports of Hegseth removing transgender troops from service and last month, he vowed to end “woke culture” in the armed forces.

Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson replied to Entertainment Weekly saying: “Under President Trump and Secretary [Pete] 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’s statement begins.

Kingsley went on to add that officials “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.” NME has reached out to Netflix for a comment.

Netflix has not announced whether Boots will return for a second season as yet. A decision on the show’s future will likely be made in the coming weeks. All eight episodes in the first season were released on October 9, 2025.

The star of Boots, Heizer, recently spoke to Variety about his own coming out to his “super-conservative, religious family,” aged 19.

“I had a very, unfortunately, classic gay coming-out story. It was a nightmare, and everyone was upset,” he explained.

“I’m lucky my sister, who’s my best friend, could not have cared less and was very there for me. My friends around me were super-supportive, and things have gotten so much better in that regard with my family over the years. But at the time, I definitely had the old Christian upbringing.”

You can stream Boots on Netflix now and check out all the songs on the 90’s-themed soundtrack here.