Original Black Ops Woods actor roasts character’s viral “onion” BOCW line
James C. Burns/ActivisionAfter a now-infamous line in Black Ops Cold War went viral, the original voice of the Frank Woods, James C. Burns, had to react to the character, who’s known for his badassery, calling himself…an onion.
When Black Ops Cold War was first released back in mid-November 2020, many fans took note of a line that Frank Woods says in the middle of the single-player campaign.
After Mason mocks him for being “an expert in quiet,” Woods replies quickly by saying he’s “a goddamn onion, Mason,” which thoroughly confused the community since it doesn’t really fit with the character’s iconic badass personality.
While the prevailing theory from the community is that character is just trying to say that he has layers, it doesn’t seem to have landed with players the way the writers were probably hoping it would. Since then, the original actor has shared some strong words when reacting to the scene.
Gonna have to think about that one… https://t.co/S3xVh6w2uz
— james c burns (@jamescburns) November 18, 2020
During a Sarge’s Corner livestream, James C. Burns, who played the character in the original Black Ops, BO2, and BO4, flat out said that “Woods would not say that, my Woods would not say that,” signaling that he’s clearly not a fan of the line, to say the least: “Who the f**k says that?”
Later on in the video, which was compiled together by YouTuber Dan Allen Gaming, Burns had some fun with the absurdity and hilariousness of the phrase, riffing for a minute and replacing some words in famous Woods lines from previous games with the word “onion”.
One of the more hilarious revisions was “See that onion? We’re gonna peel it”, which is an obvious play on the classic dialogue, “See that Hind? We’re gonna take it” from the first game in the series.
Burns famously did not play the character in Black Ops Cold War and it’s unknown how he would have reacted if he were asked to say the dreaded onion line by the developers, but if his responses are any indication, it probably wouldn’t have gone over well with him in the booth.
It’ll be interesting to see if Treyarch or another CoD developer embraces the line at some point in the form of an in-game calling card or emblem since the whole situation has now turned into a bit of a meme.
