Score one for the good guys.The good guys are people who think you can discuss the ramifications of sexualizing young children without, ya know, sexualizing young children. It may not ruin Netflix’s year or quarter, or maybe month, but the streaming video service is definitely feeling the heat for airing the French pedo-bait film Cuties. 
Despite sniffy lectures from sophisticated progressive writers and weasel-like defence from Netflix itself, Variety’s Todd Spangler is reporting that “A campaign waged against Netflix over Cuties and the film’s sexualized portrayal of children produced a surge in U.S. subscription cancellations over the weekend, according to research company YipitData.”
And it started with a Twitter hashtag.
“Netflix subscriber churn rates began to rise Sept. 10, the day after the release of “Cuties” on Netflix, when the hashtag “#CancelNetflix” was in the top-trending spot on Twitter,” Spangler writes.
And get this:
On Saturday, Sept. 12, Netflix’s cancellation rate in the U.S. jumped to nearly eight times higher than the average daily levels recorded in August 2020 — reaching a multiyear high, the data-analytics provider told Variety. With the #CancelNetflix hashtag continuing to trend on social media, it is possible elevated churn could continue in the coming days, according to the firm.
Who knew there were so many uptight Puritan squares on Twitter?
“Netflix has defended Cuties, written and directed by award-winning French filmmaker Maïmouna Doucouré, arguing that it is a ‘social commentary’ that makes the case about the dangers of sexualized imagery of young girls,” Spangler says. “The streamer has urged those who have denounced the film to watch it.
Wait, it’s by an “award-winning French filmmaker?” Well that’s okay then. The country that sheltered Roman Polanski for decades after he skipped his U.S. trial for raping and sodomizing a 13-yr-old girl must have pretty exacting standards for its kiddie porn. And certainly, it makes sense that if you’re horrified by the thought of twerking 6th-graders, you’d fork over your money to Netflix and an award-winning French filmmaker for the privilege of seeing 6th-graders twerk.
Spangler then gives the obligatory rundown of all the reasons the anti-twerkers aren’t as cool as the twerk excusers, including the charge that “The anti-“Cuties” campaign has been linked to the QAnon conspiracy and disinformation movement.” As if one cannot simultaneously be against child sexual exploitation and disbelieve nutty political theories.
Worse, “Several right-wing U.S. politicians have stoked the flames of the backlash, including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who attacked the film as ‘child porn’ and called on the DOJ to investigate Netflix for potential violations of U.S. law.” Worst of all, Cruz hasn’t watched the film!
Thank God for that. But plenty of others have watched it, and been horrified by it. Personally, I don’t want to see government action. Nothing would be more counterproductive than giving Hollywood and the left-intelligentsia an excuse to shriek “McCarthy!” and slap together another version of The Crucible. The market is letting Netflix know what normal people think. And hopefully it’ll continue to do so.
If you haven’t cancelled Netflix, give it consideration. If you already have cancelled it, Get a new subscription and cancel that one. Failing that, please call Netflix at 888-373-8390 and tell them to cancel Cuties.
