Netflix is facing criminal charges over Cuties film

Netflix is facing criminal charges over the Cuties film after a grand jury in Texas indicted the company for the “promotion of lewd visual material depicting a child”.

The indictment says the film has “no serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value” and appeals to “prurient interest in sex”.

Cuties is a French film about an 11-year-old Senegalese girl called Amy who is living in Paris. She is caught between the traditional values of her Muslim culture and the hyper-sexualisation of young girls online which she becomes more aware of when she joins a dance troupe at school called “The Cuties”.

via Netflix

Netflix standby their decision to broadcast the film and say it is a social commentary about the way young girls are sexualised.

In a statement to PA News Agency, a spokesperson for Netflix said: “Cuties is a social commentary against the sexualisation of young children. This charge is without merit and we stand by the film.”

Senator Ted Cruz has been the one leading the campaign against the film and has urged the Department of Justice to investigate the production and everyone involved in the film.

He claimed Cuties sexualises young girls through “dance scenes simulating sexual activities, including one scene exposing a minor’s chest”.

via Netflix

When the first poster for the film was released, over 140,000 people signed a petition to remove the film from Netflix.

Netflix have continued to defend the film and asked people to watch it before they judge it. They said it’s about the pressure young girls face and encourage everyone to watch it.

They said: “Cuties is a social commentary against the sexualisation of young children. ‘It’s an award-winning film and a powerful story about the pressure young girls face on social media and from society more generally growing up – and we’d encourage anyone who cares about these important issues to watch the movie.”

However Netflix did apologise for the inappropriate images used in the promotion of the movie.

Related stories recommended by this writer:

•I watched Netflix’s Cuties and yikes, here’s everything wrong with it

•140,000 people sign petition to remove Netflix film which ‘sexualises children’

•People cancel their Netflix subscriptions after Cuties is accused of ‘sexualising’ young girls