When you hear the words ‘The Boys’ and ‘PETA’ in the same sentence, you expect to hear some terrible piece of news. However, in a truly unexpected turn of events, the animal rights group has praised Amazon’s diabolical show about corrupt superheroes.

If you’re wondering why? Consider this as your spoiler warning. In the third episode of the new season, The Deep (played by Chase Crawford) is forced to eat a live Octopus by Homelander, who wants to welcome him back to the team with a “special seafood dinner.”

It is now being reported that the whole sequence with Timothy (the name of the octopus) was made with the help of CGI, instead of putting an actual octopus through the distressing simulation of being eaten. 

Octopuses are known to be highly intelligent creatures who communicate with each other with the help of patterns and colours. Speaking of this soft-bodied creatre, we highly recommend watching My Octopus Teacher on Netflix. 

During a promotional interview, showrunner Eric Kripke explained the reasoning behind the scene, saying “it didn’t deserve the cruel fate of being eaten raw,” a reality many actual octopuses meet every day. 

Peta took a notice of this and released a statement, which read: 

PETA is honouring actor Chace Crawford, The Boys creator Eric Kripke, and the show’s special effects team with its “Tech, Not Terror” Award for the cruelty-free and thought-provoking scene involving a computer-generated octopus in the Amazon Prime series’ latest episode.

In the scene, Crawford’s character is forced to eat a close friend — an octopus named Timothy, whom the show depicts as an individual with a family, using cutting-edge technology instead of a live animal.

The organisation said, “The Boys‘ real heroes are working behind the scenes, creating a realistic CGI octopus so that animals can live in peace. PETA is celebrating this series for helping viewers see every octopus as an individual like Timothy, not as an entrée or as entertainment.”

( Image credits: Amazon Prime Video )