AOC’s Boyfriend Doesn’t Deserve to Be Mocked for His Looks on Twitter

OK listen up Twitter: I know it’s hip and cool to tear into people on the internet these days, but you guys have come for the wrong man this time. I’m talking, obviously, about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s boyfriend, Riley Roberts, who recently reached a much wider audience thanks to the Netflix doc, Knock Down the House.

Knock Down the House is technically about four Democratic women, including AOC, who run for Congress in the 2018 primary. But really, it’s all about AOC and her unprecedented journey to defeating ten-term incumbent Joe Crowley in New York’s 14th district. Roberts doesn’t have a large part in the doc—he lets the real star have the spotlight—but he is introduced as “Alexandria’s partner.” Viewers get a glimpse of the couple’s domestic life together in the Bronx. Roberts confesses to finishing the last of their Ben & Jerry’s, and then makes AOC some tea. Later, when AOC heads to the Board of Elections to officially submit her candidacy for Congress, Roberts is there proudly filming the moment on his phone. Later still, he and AOC rip into the flaws of Crowley’s campaign, and Roberts says, “One of these core, core issues for the Democratic establishment is that their consultants are garbage.”

So, to quickly recap: Sweet, supportive and engaged in civic issues. Seems like the perfect partner, right?

Imagine my surprise, then, when I discovered that apparently, some folks on Twitter don’t approve of this match. In a now-deleted tweet, one user said, “THIS is what AOC’s boyfriend looks like?” and went on to say he looks “like a bin raccoon.” (Since that tweet is now deleted, I will respect said user’s decision to change their mind and not name names. Obviously, they were very wrong, but let’s not harass folks, ‘kay?)

That tweet ignited the AOC boyfriend discourse. Many had jokes to offer:

But more, like yours truly, came to Roberts’s defense:

(Is it gauche to embed your own tweets in your own articles? I don’t really care.)

And others still pointed out that AOC is not actually the celebrity that many mistake her for:

In conclusion, LEAVE AOC’S BOYFRIEND ALONE! Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

Stream Knock Down the House on Netflix