TYLER COUNTY, Texas (WFLA) — Netflix, Inc. has been indicted by a grand jury in Texas for distributing and promoting the film “Cuties,” which the state says sexualizes preteen girls.
The grand jury for Tyler County said Netflix knowingly promoted “visual material which depicts the lewd exhibition of the genitals or pubic area of a clothed or partially clothed child” under the age of 18.
The film’s controversial material gained traction on social media shortly after its release on Netflix early in September. About a week after its release, the hashtag #CancelNetflix trended across platforms.
The film’s creator, Maimouna Doucoure, said she made the film to spotlight the dangers social media has on pre-teens who think they need to sexualize themselves to get attention.
Critics of the film say “Cuties” defeats the whole purpose when it depicts the girls in the same sexualized manner.
Netflix defends the film as “social commentary against the sexualization of young children.”
The indictment says the lewd depiction of underage girls in “Cuties” has no serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.
