A grand jury in Texas indicted Netflix over its controversial film Cuties.
According to Deadline, the indictment was issued on Sept. 23 and came out from Tyler County. It reads that Netflix "knowingly promote[s] visual material which depicts the lewd exhibition of the genitals or pubic area of a clothed or partially clothed child who was younger than 18 years of age at the time the visual material was created, which appeals to the prurient interest in sex, and has no serious, literary, artistic, political, or scientific value."
Netflix was served with a summons on Oct. 1, which specifically named the streamer's heads Reed Hastings and Ted Sarandos. The charge is a state jail felony.
"Cuties is a social commentary against the sexualization of young children," a spokesperson for Netflix said in a statement. "This charge is without merit and we stand by the film."
Cuties is a coming-of-age drama that follows an 11-year old Senegalese-French girl who gets caught between her family's traditional Muslim culture and the hypersexualized and social media-centric modern world. The controversy over the film began after Netflix released a poster of the movie's young stars in sexual poses. While Netflix apologized for the poster — which was noticeably different and more mature than its more family-friendly French poster — it defended the film as a whole, calling it a "social commentary against the sexualization of young children."
This is not the first time the state of Texas has gone after director Maïmouna Doucouré debut's, which won the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at the Sundance Film Festival. Republican Senator Ted Cruz sent a letter addressed to Attorney General William Barr asking the Department of Justice to investigate Netflix and Cuties. In his letter, he argued that it "sexualizes young girls, including through dance scenes that simulate sexual activities and a scene that exposing a minor's bare breast. I urge the Department of Justice to investigate the production and distribution of this film to determine whether Netflix, its executives, or the individuals involved in the filming and production of Cuties violated any federal laws against the production and distribution of child pornography."
Written and directed by Maïmouna Doucouré, Cuties stars Fathia Youssouf, Médina El Aidi-Azouni, Esther Gohourou, Ilanah Cami-Goursolas and Maïmouna Gueye. It is now streaming on Netflix.
Source: Deadline