Cuties Photo: Netflix
The ongoing lawsuit – and the controversy surrounding the Netflix Cuties film – has hit new headlines tonight as Deadline reports that the streamer has filed a petition asking the federal government to intervene and block a child pornography charge against which the company is facing Texas. to the movie.
Maïmouna Doucouré’s 2020 film garnered criticism from conservative critics around the time Netflix announced it had acquired the film after its award-winning Sundance debut. The film focuses on an 11-year-old French-Senegalese girl who is fascinated by a dance troupe made up of some of her classmates who use age-inappropriate dance moves and outfits. The whole thing is quite clearly conceived as a sharp critique of the culture of sexualization to which children are exposed mainly from birth – but it was grabbed by the strongest and most persistent voices of the American right as a stick to hit everyone supporting him as traffickers. child pornography.
In particular, Texas District Attorney Lucas Babin (former actor, by the way) decided to test these allegations of “child porn” a few years ago after accusing Netflix back in 2020 of accusing Cuties of “portraying obscenities.” an exhibition of the genitals or pubic area of a clothed or partially clothed child who has been under 18 years of age … and has no significant literary, artistic, political or scientific value. ”
Netflix – which said it now finds some of the marketing images it uses for Cuties “inappropriate” but who stood firm for the film – has now essentially called on federal courts to intervene and force Babin to overturn it. Calling it an “emergency”, Netflix’s request to the federal court states that Babin’s “only and unscrupulous effort” to prosecute Netflix for exercising his rights to freedom of expression and petitions under the First Amendment on fictitious allegations he could not prove as a matter of law, it requires extraordinary measures. “
The Netflix complaint notes that it is unusual for a federal court to intervene on such an issue, but characterizes Babin’s stubborn attitude toward the company as so extreme and so false that it requires federal intervention. A hearing is reportedly scheduled to take place tomorrow, March 4.
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