Following a huge outrage through an online petition, Netflix has apologized for the artwork promoting a movie named “Cuties” which is alleged to be sexualizing children.
A Change.org petition titled “I want Netflix to remove the new movie Cuties as it promotes child pornography!” has collected more than 239000 signatures till now.
Taking note of the flood of criticism by the netizens, Netflix has apologized over its official Twitter account, “We’re deeply sorry for the inappropriate artwork that we used for Mignonnes/Cuties,” the streaming company wrote on Twitter. “It was not OK, nor was it representative of this French film which won an award at Sundance. We’ve now updated the pictures and description.”
Netflix has updated the picture and description of the movie to “Eleven-year-old Amy starts to rebel against her conservative family’s traditions when she becomes fascinated with a free-spirited dance crew.”
A conservative-leaning watchdog group, The Parents Television Council is requesting not to release the Cuties and also remove the other inappropriate content that sexualizes children or romanticizes sexual assault and rape.
“Netflix must stop sexually exploiting children for the sake of entertainment, period. It’s time for Netflix to account for the content it hosts, and the first step it must take is to remove ‘Cuties’ and other content that sexualizes children, such as ‘Baby,’ ‘Big Mouth,’ and ‘Sex Education’ or that glamorizes rape and sexual assault such as ‘365 Days’,” added organization’s president Tim Winter.
“Cuties,” originally titled “Mignonnes,” is a French-language film directed by Maïmouna Doucouré, centered on 11-year-old Amy who becomes a member of a dance group dubbed the “Cuties.” The movie is scheduled to stream on Netflix on September 9.
