Nearly three dozen Republican lawmakers are hoping to see Netflix get prosecuted over the controversial movie Cuties.
Indiana Rep. Jim Banks and 33 other Republicans in the House sent a letter to Attorney General William Barr on Thursday. The lawmakers are urging the Department of Justice to prosecute Netflix executives for distributing the movie on their platform, which they said “clearly” meets the legal definition of child pornography.
“The First Amendment protects corporations and individuals from obscenity law if they can prove artistic expression, but this protection rightfully does not apply to child pornography. Cuties is child pornography and its distributors should be prosecuted accordingly,” the letter reads. “Cuties’ defenders claim that the film intends to criticize the objectification of young girls. The reality is that Cuties does depict minors engaged in sexually explicit acts. It’s visual fodder for pedophiles and its message is beside the point.”
The movie follows Amy, 11, a girl of Senegalese origin living in a poor neighborhood in France, who joins a dance group at school. The film has been accused of sexualizing prepubescent girls, however, the director, Maimouna Doucouré, argues that the movie’s objective is to highlight the hypersexualization of young girls.
“Cuties is child porn and Netflix should be prosecuted for distributing it. The vast majority of Americans agree with me, which is why Netflix’s cancellation rate has skyrocketed,” Banks said in a statement about the letter. “Americans are shocked to see this foisted on our children, and so are my 33 Republican colleagues who’ve signed this letter. But no Democrats. They seem more inclined to defend Cuties than criticize it. That raises some alarm bells.”
The movie has received significant backlash for the depiction of the girls, but Netflix has remained steadfast in defending the movie despite seeing a rise in subscription cancellations.
