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Netflix Indicted for ‘Lewd’ Depiction of Minors in Controversial ‘Cuties’ Film

Don’t mess with Texas!

As concerns over child sex trafficking continue to boil over here in the United States, streaming giant Netflix has found itself in hot water in the Lone Star State.

At the center of this controversy was a film entitled Cuties, in which pre-teen girls are seen performing sexualized, erotic dance moves, shot in incredibly unapologetic angles and closeups.  The film’s release brought with it a firestorm of criticism for Netflix, with social media users accusing the studio of sexually exploiting these children, and providing material for pedophiles to fawn over.

Proponents of the film have suggested that the outrage was purposeful, with the film being purposefully provocative in order to confront this very issue.

Netflix is now facing legal repercussions for Cuties in Texas.

According to the September 23 indictment out of Tyler County, Texas, the streamer led by Reed Hastings and Ted Sarandos “knowingly promote 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.”

Facing some serious charges, Netflix weren’t backing down today as the one-page indictment became public via a local congressman’s Twitter feed. “Cuties is a social commentary against the sexualization of young children,” a spokesperson for the streamer said in a statement. “This charge is without merit and we stand by the film.”

And this wasn’t just some symbolic charge, either.

Netflix was served with a summons by Texas Rangers on October 1, claimed Tyler County D.A. Lucas Babin today. Naming co-CEOs Hastings and Sarandos, the charge is a state jail felony.

Netflix endured a brief fiscal turndown in the wake of the film’s release, as boycotts were promoted heavily via social media.

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