Eric Kripke Responds to ‘The Boys’ Coincidence with Trump’s Gold Statue: “Seriously, What’s Happening?”
The recent episode of The Boys, created by Eric Kripke, has drawn unsettling parallels to current events, particularly in its portrayal of an all-powerful fascist leader.
This week’s sixth episode, titled “Through the Heavens Fall,” coincided with the unveiling of a gold statue of Donald Trump at the Cadillac Championship, held at Trump National Doral Golf Club. Both fans and Kripke himself noted the eerie similarities between Trump’s gilded likeness and that of Homelander (played by Antony Starr).
In response to a video of the statue’s dedication ceremony at Mar-a-Lago, one fan remarked on X, “You can’t make this shit up.”
Kripke acknowledged the discomforting similarities by sharing a side-by-side image of both statues on Instagram, exclaiming, “Seriously what the fuck?”
Earlier, Kripke reacted to an AI-generated image Trump posted, depicting himself as Jesus Christ, shortly after Homelander chillingly claimed in the episode “Every One of You Sons of Bitches” that he is God. Kripke expressed his frustration to Polygon: “I am really tired and weary of the world reflecting the show before we get a chance to do it. I appreciate the marketing. I’m just like, can you just please give us a chance to put some absurd satire out there before you prove that it’s more realistic than we ever intended?”
He further remarked, “This is the episode where Homelander decides he’s going to be God and 48 hours before it, Trump releases an image of himself as God. A month ago when we were talking about marketing, I was like, Homelander saying he’s God is so out there.”
Following backlash, Trump deleted the AI-generated image, claiming, “I thought it was me as a doctor and had to do with the Red Cross. It’s supposed to be me as a doctor making people better. And I do make people better.”
Kripke has remarked on the unsettling nature of the current fifth and final season of The Boys, which was written before the 2024 presidential election. He noted that a plot point in the upcoming seventh episode has already unfolded in real life, stressing the disconcerting accuracy of their satire.
As the season approaches its finale, scheduled for May 19 in a 4DX theatrical release followed by its debut on Prime Video, the parallels between fiction and reality raise further concerns. Given the violent themes in this season and Kripke’s portrayal of Homelander as a Trump surrogate character, many hope that the satire does not become too prescient.
