In some of the best episodes of “The Golden Girls,” its central quartet of elderly women are explicitly up to no good, proving that getting old isn’t the same thing as becoming boring. However, one fan theory by writer Michael Harriot on X, formerly known as Twitter, proposes that the show’s four main women are quite a bit more sinister than your average group of fun-loving old ladies. “Blanche, Dorothy, Rose [and] Sophia—The Golden Girls—were actually members of an organized crime syndicate,” reads his opening post.
“The Golden Girls” takes place in Miami, where Dorothy Zbornak (Bea Arthur), Rose Nylund (Betty White), and Sophia Petrillo (Estelle Getty) move into a house owned by Blanche Devereaux (Rue McClanahan). None of these women, however, are originally from Florida. Harriot’s thread on the X platform argues that their proximity is due to a shared interest in dealing drugs and partaking in other large-scale criminal activities. “Y’all probably think they were innocent widowers because that’s what they WANT you to think. Nah, these women were gangsters,” his thread continues. “They moved there to ‘push that weight.'”
“Ruthless” Rose Nyland, as he calls the show’s resident Midwesterner, killed her husband for an insurance payout and moved to Miami to link up with drug kingpin Blanche. According to Harriot, Blanche is not just a wealthy homeowner but a second-generation mobster.
This fan theory gifts each Golden Girl with a unique criminal background
While Michael Harriot’s evidence of Rose’s wrongdoing is as simple as the ambiguity of her husband’s death, he has quite a bit more evidence to suggest that Blanche is part of a criminal family. Namely, Blanche’s father (Murray Hamilton) wears an extravagant white suit and unironically uses the nickname “Big Daddy.” Plus she works as an art dealer — a profession notorious for potential involvement in money laundering.
Meanwhile, Dorothy is the group’s muscle. Her biggest intimidation factor is her deep voice, Harriot argues. Finally, Sophie is Sicilian, and anyone with a passing interest in gangster movies knows that cinema’s most ruthless mobsters claim ancestry from Sicily. “Plus, have y’all ever wondered why her nursing home burned down right when everyone moved in?” reads Harriot’s thread on the X platform. “To keep the cops off their trail. It was a cover.”
“The Golden Girls” can already be considered one of the funniest sitcoms in TV history. With this fan theory in mind, it’s possible to find entirely new ways to laugh at the exploits of “Ruthless” Rose Nyland, Blanche “The Butcher” Devereaux, and the rest of what might just be the most unassuming criminal organization in sitcom history.
