Community outrage prompts The Boys to cancel filming a violent scene at the site of a deadly attack

TV Guide

The Amazon series had been scheduled to film a Season 2 scene involving about 450 people at Toronto's Mel Lastman Square. In April 2018, Mel Lastman Square was the site of the Toronto van attack, in which 10 people were killed and 16 injured when a man driving a rented van deliberately ran into pedestrians. According to the Toronto Sun, the production company described the scene as follows: "One of the rogue superheroes attacks the crowd. There will be people screaming and running in the scene as well as a considerable amount of fake blood.” Mel Lastman Square has become a memorial site for the victims. When Toronto Councillor John Filion found out about the scene, he made some calls to have it canceled. "I flipped out,” he said. “There are people who work in this building, who went out onto Yonge St. to try to help the van attack victims — many of them are still traumatized. And think about the families and loved ones of those victims... It’s not about confusion. It’s about people literally re-living those events. It’s disrespectful to even think of it. Even if nobody had seen anything, it’s still disrespectful. I guess somebody just wasn’t thinking.” Amazon has yet to respond to the film shoot's cancelation.