Netflix's Big Mouth blasted for 'glorifying paedophilia and underaged sex' as series branded 'as bad
HIT Netflix show Big Mouth has been criticized for "glorifying paedopohila" amid the ongoing backlash to new film Big Mouth.
The animated series is a coming-of-age sitcom created by Family Guy writer Andrew Goldberg, and centres on pre-pubescent teens - Nick, Andrew, Jay, Jessi and Missy -who are all in their own way going through puberty.
But the show's no-holds-barred approach to puberty, including masturbation, has offended many.
"If you have a problem with the movie #cuties then you better not be watching #bigmouth either. Both are disgusting," tweeted one upset subscriber.
"The show #Bigmouth has been on for a couple years. Please highlight this show!! Glorifies preteen masturbation," wrote another.
"We were warned as parents in our small town about this show. ITS BAD."
One outspoken critic tweeted: "For those of you that like Big Mouth, how does it feel being a border line pedophile?"
But others have defended the show, with one reminding viewers that "the humor’s gross and crass because that’s exactly how puberty felt."
"Why is it so easy to grasp that Bojack [Horseman] doesn’t encourage beastiality but Big Mouth can’t be seen as...I don’t know, not pedophilia? Weird."
The controversy comes after Netflix was slammed for French drama Cuties, which centred around a young girl who joins a twerking dance squad.
The French film follows Amy, an 11-year-old girl living in Paris, who wants to join a “free-spirited dance crew” in defiance of her family’s traditions.
Three other girls in their early teenage years also star in the film.
The film poster showed the four girls posing in booty shorts and tight crop tops.
Since premiering Cuties on September 9, Netflix has faced backlash from Netflix subscribers accusing it of sexualising young girls.
A Netflix spokesperson at the time defended Cuties as “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,” the spokesperson said
In October Netflix was indicted in Texas over the “lewd” depiction of children in the film.
A copy of the indictment by a grand jury in Tyler County was shared by Texas Representative Matt Schaefer.
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It said the film was found to “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 of sex."
In addition, the indictment filed on September 23 states that Netflix promoted, distributed and exhibited the film that “has no serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.”
Netflix’s new ‘Cuties’ show with ‘highly sexualised’ drama about 11-year-old girl joining ‘twerking squad’ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTErKynZpOke7a3jq2taGljaoB2gZFsZqedpJu5qsTSZpmin12ivLbAx2aZpZmjqbKlecalpquhlq62r7OMqZienJ%2Bltaq4yJpm