Ohio AG calls for Netflix to remove ‘Cuties’ film from streaming service

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost called for the removal of the film “Cuties” from Netflix, joining a growing list of attorney generals from across the country.

“In this era where we are fighting a seemingly never-ending battle against human trafficking, this film is counterproductive – it whets the appetites of those who wish to harm our children in the most unimaginable ways,” Yost said. “I vehemently opposed the continued streaming of the movie and request that it is voluntarily removed.”

According to Netflix’s description of the movie, which is rated TV-MA, “Eleven-year-old Amy starts to rebel against her conservative family’s traditions when she becomes fascinated with a free-spirited dance crew.”

The film repeatedly shows children using their bodies in a sexual manner to get themselves out of trouble; it graphically focuses on the clothed genitalia of children; and it shows the creation and publication of child pornography, according to Yost.

A Netflix spokeswoman told the New York Times the film was “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," the spokeswoman told The Times.

Yost joined Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton today requesting that Netflix remove the film.

Yost wrote a letter to Netflix CEO Reed Hastings.

“This film contains the gratuitous exposure of a young girl’s breast,” Yost wrote in the letter. “Repeated images of eleven-year old children gyrating, “twerking,” and simulating sex in tight, skimpy clothes simply serves as fodder for those with criminal imaginations, serving to normalize the view that children are sexual beings.”

The attorney general said the release of the film is “counterproductive” to the “seemingly never-ending battle against human trafficking."

Cox Media Group