Knock Down The House, a new documentary about Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and three other candidates who challenged incumbent members of Congress in the 2018 midterm elections, debuted on Netflix last week. It’s also opened in a handful of theaters.
The film, directed by Rachel Lears, features an on-the-ground depiction of Ocasio-Cortez’s run for Congress, as well as those of the other three candidates, all of whom lost their primaries. We see her debate with Rep. Joseph Crowley, her campaign strategy sessions, the moment she realized she had won the primary, as well as her arrival in Washington.
But the film also shows us a bit of AOC’s home life, including lots of screen time for Riley Roberts, Ocasio-Cortez’s longtime romantic partner. Roberts, who assisted with AOC’s campaign, is depicted in the film as a supportive and loyal boyfriend, although until the documentary he hasn’t had much of a public profile.
The parts with Roberts have kicked off a popular internet meme, based on a mean tweet about Roberts’ looks. The tweet has since been deleted.
“Apologies for the blatantly mean tweet, but THIS is what AOC’s boyfriend looks like?” the tweet says. “Incredible scenes, truly representing all the ambitious and stunning millenial [sic] women shackled to boyfriends who look like bin racoons out there.”
While that tweet was deleted, the jokesters of Twitter got to work, attaching that text or parts of it to photos of different people.
Such as Sonic the Hedgehog:
apologies for the blatantly mean tweet but THIS is what AOC’s boyfriend looks like? incredible scenes, truly representing all the ambitious and stunning millenial women shackled to boyfriends who look like bin raccoons out there pic.twitter.com/nP96PVb15Q
— Gene Park (@GenePark) May 3, 2019
And Gritty:
Super mean tweet but THIS is what AOC’s boyfriend looks like? Incredible scene, representing all the ambitious millennial women shackled to hockey mascots that rampage through dumpsters. pic.twitter.com/lKsymVDFA5
— 18e Trognon de Pomme ????? (@BrettBear63UC) May 3, 2019
And Chapo Trap House podcast cohost Will Menaker:
This is what AOC’s boyfriend looks like!? pic.twitter.com/7IddXJTh6t
— Adam Friedland (@AdamFriedland) May 3, 2019
And Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek:
And Rick And Morty ‘s “Pickle Rick”:
apologies for the blatantly mean tweet but THIS is what AOC’s boyfriend looks like? incredible scenes, truly representing all the ambitious and stunning millennial women shackled to boyfriends who look like bin raccoons out there pic.twitter.com/gk16UCgTRF
— Rob (@robrousseau) May 3, 2019
And another one of Zizek:
And Tormund from Game of Thrones:
The AOC’s boyfriend revelation has shaken me to my core pic.twitter.com/4MsK3dt5Ey
— Wilt Hoyhelm (@paulderdash1) May 3, 2019
Funny memes notwithstanding, others have had things to say about the documentary and Riley Roberts’ place in it.
“Imagine being AOC’s boyfriend,” Twitter user The Law Boy said. “One minute you’re dating a bartender who’s slightly out of your league and the next she’s famous and people are debating how disgusting you are.”
“The disbelief that AOC’s boyfriend is some normal looking raccoon man is another example of how people don’t understand that she is an actual socialist and not a pop star who vaguely referenced black panthers once,” comedian Jake Flores tweeted .
Knock Down The House , which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival back in January, has gotten mostly positive reviews from critics, keeping a 100 percent positive score on Rotten Tomatoes through the first 65 reviews posted.
