Media company Free the People released a parody of Fox Network's long-running science fiction drama series The X-Files.
The video, titled "The LatinX-Files," depicts original series' main characters Fox Mulder and Dana Scully discussing their investigation into "latinx."
The video recreates a cold-opening of The X-Files, though in place of posters depicting extraterrestrial imagery and cryptids, Free the People shows an office filled with evidence of a Latin-inspired investigation. On the wall are two posters, one of which appears to be a half-man, half-chupacabra, and the other features a man wearing a sombrero and poncho.
"There's no such thing as 'latinx,'" Scully tells Mulder, who points towards his corkboard filled with Latin-inspired phrases and insists "latinx" exists before the main titles appear.
Free The People similarly recreates The X-Files opening with a sombrero flying through the sky as mariachi music plays in the background. Other Latin-inspired images are featured along with a brief shot of New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez before the tagline "El Truth Es Out There" appears.
The video cuts to Mulder and Scully walking down a street as Mulder notes "there are 62.5 million 'Latinx' in the United States" totaling to 19% of the total population. A perplexed Scully notes Mulder has never met a "Latinx" and asks if he finds it "weird."
The two enter a concerned woman's house, who says she confronted a neighboring Hispanic family that was cooking something that "smelled strong."
"I thought they were going to turn hostile, so I quickly communicated with them that I was an ally," the concerned woman tells Mulder and Scully. "I voted against Trump twice. I even showed them my p---y hat to prove it."
The woman's neighbor responds to her disapprovingly in Spanish disapproving, which the woman interprets as a compliment. Scully asks the woman if she was drinking, as the video cuts to a montage of the woman drinking popular Latin adult beverages including Corona brand beer, tequila and margaritas while hitting a piñata.
Later, Mulder and Scully visit the neighboring family's house to find it unoccupied. Mulder says the family "fled," to which Scully suggests they left because the family is "normal" and left because their neighbor was "annoying them."
The two find the piñata still hanging in the neighbor's tree, which Mulder says is evidence of "Latinx."
"This isn't evidence of anything," Scully says, adding the concerned woman isn't a reliable source.
"If 'Latinx' aren't real then why is there a box for them on every college application, on government forms?" Mulder asks. "Why do politicians mention them in speeches?"
"Why has NPR used the term 'Latinx' 3,953 times in the past week?" Mulder continues.
Mulder visits an expert source on the matter and says he's visited many Latin areas in the country, though still can't find any "Latinx."
"Señor Mulder, you should leave this case along," says a man depicted as The X-Files' Cigarette Smoking Man, who smokes an elote in Free The People's video. "Es muy grande," the smoking man tells Mulder. "You loco, fool."
"You keep asking, 'Dónde 'Latinx?' when you should be asking 'por qué 'Latinx?'" he says.
The video cuts to Mulder and Scully walking through a field as Mulder says he "put out some bait" as the two stumble upon a chupacabra. The chupacabra thanks Mulder for leaving a dead goat for him as Mulder says he's looking for a "living real life 'Latinx.'"
"'Latinx?' What the f--- is that?" the chupacabra replies.
Scully notes the word is a "collective term for people of Latin-American cultural or ethnic identity in the United States.
"Oh, you mean Latino," the chupacabra responds, which Scully agrees, though clarifies "Latinx" is "not masculine."
"You got that right," the chupacabra quips.
Scully tells the chupacabra that the term is "gender neutral."
"It sounds like some s--- white people made up in college," he responds.
The chupacabra says he has met a lot of Latin-American people, though says he's never met a "Latinx."
"They always chase me out their farms, or out of the chicken coops in their backyard," the chupacabra recounts. "Papi, I know Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans. Papi, I know three Costa Ricans."
Mulder appears shocked that none of the people the chupacabra knows refer to themselves as "Latinx."
"S---, nobody wants to be called 'Latinx,'" the chupacabra responds, adding he would rather be called a series of racial epithets than "Latinx."
Mulder and Scully are then ambushed by a group of individuals who throw bags with NPR's logo over their head.
The video cuts to Mulder and Scully tied up as a woman who says she's part of AWFL tells Mulder he's been asking too many questions. The woman clarifies the acronym stands for "Adult White Female Liberals," which is an acronym used by comedian Dave Chappelle in his standup routine.
"The 'Latinx' community is a strong vibrant culture that definitely exists, is totally bueno, and will always vote Democrat," the AWFL woman says before warning Mulder and Scully to end their investigation. The AWFL woman warns the two will end up dead as she points to the chupacabra across the room who appears to have been strangled to death.
Scully concludes the video, "There's no way I'm doing seven more seasons of this."
