Netflix CEO defends ‘Cuties’ in wake of indictment

"It's a film that is very misunderstood with some audiences, uniquely within the United States. The film speaks for itself. It's a very personal coming of age film, it's the director's story and the film has obviously played very well at Sundance without any of this controversy and played in theatres throughout Europe without any of this controversy."

"It's a little surprising in 2020 America that we're having a discussion about censoring storytelling," added Sarandos.

“Cuties” has been considered by many to be pro- pedophilia. However, according to The Blaze, the Texas indictment goes a little bit further in its language. It claims that Netflix "knowingly promote[d] 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."

Shortly after the film was released in August, public outrage was sparked. #cancelnetflix began trending immediately on social media, and a petition was put up on change.org

Netflix previously publicly apologized for the film’s original promo pic, and changed it at the time, but refuses to perform any further action regarding the film.

"Cuties is a social commentary against the sexualization 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," a Netflix spokesperson said.