Reddit Users Are Furious With The Boys Creator Eric Kripke For A Good Reason
Contains spoilers for "The Boys" Season 4, Episode 6 — "Dirty Business"
"The Boys" is the wildest superhero story around, though its Season 4 has worried fans on occasion. In the latest example of audience dismay toward the newest season, showrunner Eric Kripke has angered some viewers ... and their ire just might have a point. The problem in question relates to "The Boys" Season 4, Episode 6, in which Hughie Campbell (Jack Quaid) infiltrates Tek Knight's (Derek Wilson) party disguised as Webweaver (Dan Mousseau), only to end up tormented in the Supe's secret sex dungeon.
As user u/fuwafuwa7chi posted on Reddit, Kripke has given flippant comments about this scene in an interview with Variety. "Well, that's a dark way to look at it! We view it as hilarious," Kripke said when asked what the show tried to say by having Hughie sexually assaulted by a Supe he used to look up to so shortly after his father (Simon Pegg) dies. This doesn't really mesh with the comments the showrunner made about the Deep (Chace Crawford) assaulting Starlight (Erin Moriarty) during Season 1. "I've never worked so hard or stressed so much about a scene in my life before or since," Kripke told Screenwriters' Festival Online in 2021 (via Screen Rant). "Because if I got that wrong, it's not just that it would fail as a scene, it would be hurtful. And I felt that pressure and responsibility all throughout."
Compare these quotes, and it comes across like Kripke treats two characters' sexual assaults by people they once looked up to in a radically different way. As such, Redditors haven't been particularly happy.
Viewers have plenty to say about Kripke's comments
Eric Kripke's comments about Hughie's assault on "The Boys" Season 4, Episode 6 have sparked discussion on Reddit, and several fans have plenty to say. "I've seen defenses for the episode saying that the [sexual assault] scenes were obviously meant to make the audience uncomfortable and that Hughie admitting at the end that he isn't fine was a result of his [sexual assault] trauma. [B]ut hearing the director himself say the scenes were played for laughs and to be as f***** up as possible is just crazy," Redditor u/shineeshineepinee wrote.
Elsewhere, user u/Titand120 described how Kripke's confirmation about the intended vibe of Hughie's scenes with Tek Knight ended up ruining the experience for them. "The fact that the [Tek Knight] stuff was meant to be comedic is gross, and it turns those scenes from 'yeah actually that was really messed up' to 'wow I hate this, why were these included?'" Meanwhile, u/thatHecklerOverThere summarized their feelings about Kripke's comments. "What a thing to say out loud with a straight face. My god," they wrote.
"The Boys" has already been under fire from certain viewer segments after fans with right-wing views started complaining about the show mocking their political leanings. Kripke has been known to handily destroy "woke" complaints about "The Boys" by pointing out that the show is very open about the things it mocks and the issues it tackles, but it's pretty clear that his comments about Tek Knight's assault on Hughie being hilarious seems like a misstep to many.
If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).