MAGA Outrage Over Netflix’s ‘Adolescence’ Misses the Point, Say Creators

A new Netflix series, Adolescence, has become an unexpected target for right-wing outrage, with MAGA supporters attempting to twist its message into a debate on immigration. But the show’s creators insist it has nothing to do with that—and everything to do with male violence and online radicalization.

The four-part drama follows a troubled British teenager accused of a brutal crime, exploring the toxic influences that shaped him. Co-writer Jack Thorne explained on BBC Radio 2 that the series was inspired by the rise of “male anger, male rage,” a theme deeply resonant in the U.K., where a string of violent attacks against women has sparked national outcry. His writing partner, acclaimed actor Stephen Graham, reinforced that message, telling GQ: “We wanted to understand what’s happening to young men today. How do they get radicalized online? Where does that anger come from?”

Despite these clear intentions, conservative critics in both the U.S. and U.K. claim Adolescence is a politically motivated misrepresentation. Some insist it is directly based on the real-life case of Hassan Sentamu, a Black teenager sentenced to life in prison last week for the murder of 15-year-old Elianne Andam. Right-wing figures allege that Netflix deliberately cast a white actor, Owen Cooper, as the lead to obscure the racial dynamics of violent crime.

Irish far-right influencer Keith Woods—who has been amplified by Elon Musk—tweeted: “This is how Netflix portrays a 13-year-old knife murderer in the UK. Second image is the person it was based on.” The misleading post included side-by-side images of Cooper’s character and Sentamu, fueling a false narrative that the show was an intentional whitewashing of real events.

The controversy quickly gained traction among conservative media personalities. British right-wing commentator Patrick Christys claimed the series was part of an ongoing “attack on white working-class boys.” Darren Grimes, another far-right pundit, accused Netflix of pushing “anti-male propaganda,” suggesting the show manufactures white villains to avoid acknowledging immigrant crime.

“These people want to tell you violent crime is about toxic masculinity, not immigration,” one user wrote on X, echoing a talking point that has become a rallying cry among far-right groups. Another commenter bluntly stated, “This is how they brainwash us into believing white men are the problem, when in fact, it’s immigrants.”

This argument, however, ignores a well-documented crisis of misogynistic violence across all racial and ethnic backgrounds. White perpetrators like Kyle Clifford—who was sentenced last year for the brutal triple murder of women in England—undermine the notion that violence is an immigrant-only issue. Furthermore, male-on-female domestic violence has been declared a national emergency in England and Wales, underscoring the need to address the broader cultural and societal factors that contribute to these crimes.

Thorne and Graham insist that Adolescence was never meant to depict a single case but rather to reflect a disturbing trend. “I read about one boy who stabbed a girl, and then another case months later on the opposite end of the country,” Thorne explained. “I started asking, what’s going on in our society?”

Graham was similarly struck by the recurring nature of these attacks. “For me, it wasn’t about gang crime—it was about young boys killing young girls. Where does that hatred come from?” he said.

The duo also addressed the role of social media in shaping young men’s views, pointing to the influence of figures like Andrew Tate, the self-proclaimed misogynist who has been charged with rape and human trafficking. Graham admitted he was largely unaware of Tate before working on Adolescence, but during his research, he found himself disturbed by how easily the Instagram algorithm led him deeper into a world of extremist content. “These phones are dangerous,” he said. “And these so-called influencers have a massive responsibility.”

Netflix has stood by the show, stating that while Adolescence was inspired by the growing crisis of male violence, it is a work of fiction—not a retelling of any one crime. “One of our aims was to ask, ‘What pressures do young men face today from their peers, from the internet, and from social media?’” Graham noted in the show’s press materials.

Yet for MAGA and far-right media figures, the facts seem secondary to the culture war. The same voices that once raged against Barbie for promoting “woke feminism” and attacked The Last of Us for LGBTQ+ representation are now using Adolescence to push their familiar narrative. But in their effort to turn it into a conversation about immigration, they’ve largely ignored the real issue at its core: the radicalization of young men and the real-world consequences of unchecked misogyny.