Netflix doesn’t generally court controversy all that often, but when it did in the case of Cuties, the outrage was so vast and all-encompassing that it scarcely seemed believable at the time.
Writer and director Maïmouna Doucouré’s drama following a troupe of young dancers may have secured a Certified Fresh approval rating of 87 percent on Rotten Tomatoes to indicate widespread acclaim, but nobody cared from the second the focus turned to tearing the movie – and by extension its creator – down at every turn.
Once Netflix dropped a promo poster, all hell broke loose after furious subscribers blasted Cuties for sexualizing children, causing the company to suppress search results to stem the tide. That didn’t work when politicians and governments got involved, with many asking for the film to be eradicated from the content library altogether.
Things even reached the Senate, with Netflix being invited to discuss Cuties before Congress, while Ted Cruz sent a letter to the Department of Justice demanding an investigation, prior to the streaming service being indicted by a grand jury in Texas over its decision to press ahead with releasing it as scheduled.
Review-bombed into oblivion with a 15 percent user rating on Rotten Tomatoes, Doucouré additionally revealed that she was the subject of repeated death threats as the backlash grew louder, all while social media campaigns mobilized the troops to demand everybody cancel their subscriptions.
Suffice to say, Cuties is without a doubt the single most contentious original in Netflix’s history, so maybe don’t tell anyone that it’s back on the charts. Per FlixPatrol, the incendiary exclusive has sneaked back onto the worldwide watch-list, and let’s just hope the same thing doesn’t end up happening twice.