Topline
Netflix cancellations have gone up in response to the film Cuties, according to subscription analytics company Antenna, after the film inspired a culture wars-style backlash over whether it sexualizes young girls.
©MIGNONNES DE MAÏMOUNA DOUCOURÉ PAR JEAN-MICHEL PAPAZIAN POUR BIEN OU BIEN PRODUCTIONS 2018
Key Facts
Netflix saw five times the number of cancellations in the past 5 days compared to the previous 30 days, according to Antenna.
The data does not include hard numbers, so it’s unclear if the surge in cancellations will have a lasting impact on Netflix’s massive 72.9 million U.S. subscriber base.
Critics of the film have denounced the movie as “child porn” and blamed Netflix for “promoting pedophilia,” resulting in a social media storm with the hashtag #CancelNetflix and a Change.org petition with 656,207 signatories pledging to cancel their subscriptions.
Cuties shows young girls with revealing dance uniforms dancing suggestively and has a scene where the main character takes a picture of her crotch and posts it on social media—but it doesn’t show any underage nudity, as some reports suggested.
Netflix, film critics and director Maïmouna Doucouré argue the award-winning film is a “social commentary against the sexualization of young children.”
Though claims the movie “normalizes pedophilia” circulated in QAnon groups, outrage over the film has seeped into the mainstream with some Republicans, including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), calling on the Justice Department to investigate whether the film violated child porn laws.
Netflix did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Forbes.
Key Background
Cuties premiered at film festivals earlier this year to good reviews. But the movie garnered backlash when Netflix released its marketing campaign, which featured a poster of young girls posing provocatively. Netflix apologized for the “inappropriate artwork,” but defended the film as “a powerful story about the pressure young girls face on social media and from society more generally growing up.”
