The commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars blasted Netflix series “Orange is the New Black” Thursday for depicting veterans as amoral sadists.
“America has tens of thousands of troops currently deployed into harm’s way and millions of others who have successfully transitioned back into society,” said John Biedrzycki, commander of Veterans of Foreign Wars, “but the writers and producers chose instead to offend them all just to fit a storyline that needed new villains.”
Season 4 of Netflix’s prison dramedy dropped on Netflix in June, and one of its main storylines involves replacing a set of civilian guards who walked out on the warden with a new, more fit-for-duty group of guards who happened to be Afghanistan veterans.
While none of the new guards was portrayed as being empathetic to the inmates’ plight, one stood out as being unhinged. During a harrowing scene, he took a prisoner into a house and forced her to eat a live baby mouse with a gun to her head.
The VFW originally heard about the show’s depiction of veterans from Task & Purpose editorial intern Tahlia Burton, who wrote a scathing review of the new season’s treatment of veterans.
“‘Orange is the New Black’ portrays vets as a cohort of bloodthirsty, heartless killers and sexists,” Burton wrote. “For a show that ostensibly prides itself on realism and its ability to encourage empathy from its viewers, ‘Orange is the New Black’ had no problem using veterans as an embodiment of violent, sexist, inhumane behavior.”
Biedrzycki and the VFW are calling for the show, which was recently renewed for three more seasons, to alter its veterans storyline for the sake of those who served in the military.
“For a young veteran and fan to write that the new season depicts ‘veterans as evil’ is damning testimony against an industry that’s supposed to inform and entertain,” Biedrzycki said. “Freedom of expression or not, the VFW will not give anyone a free pass to defame those who wear the uniform.”
