In case youve been under a rock for the last week, the Netflix movie Cuties has raised quite the controversy online. Many folks, including this author though I admit to only watching a brief clip found the film to be utterly shocking. In the brief clip I watched, several 11-year-old girls were grabbing their prepubescent selves in a sexual manner in what could be described as eye candy to a child predator.
Though the outrage over the sexualization of small children was bipartisan, many in the media attempted to paint it as some right versus left issue. It is not. The clip which was originally posted to Twitter, which I shared to show the disturbing nature of this film, shows zoomed in camera angles of little girls grabbing their private parts.
Ill be the first to admit that when the outrage was sparked last month, I thought it was a bit overblown. I wrote it off to perceptiveness bias with many on the religious right being unable to accept the cultural roots of twerking and subsequently being offended by girls doing a dance conservatives simply didnt want to understand or accept. However, that was only after watching the trailer. When watching the clip that was released last week, all that went out the window.
I originally thought the anger over the film was misdirected and much of it likely was but my outrage at the hypersexualization of prepubescent little girls literally grabbing their privates getting a worldwide platform in the midst of a child sex abuse epidemic has nothing to do with some puritan values or obstinance, but rather an appeal to humanity.
Nevertheless, after the storm of controversy erupted online, Netflix doubled down on the release of the film calling it a social commentary against the sexualization of young children.
While I do not doubt that director Maïmouna Doucouré had this intent with her film, the idea that children were in fact extremely sexualized in the film, negates any point she was trying to make.
One need not literally kick a dog or set a cat on fire to make a point about animal cruelty just like one need not sexually exploit little girls to make a point about the sexualization of young children. But I digress. Apparently, even with the disturbing nature of the scenes I watched, Netflix reportedly broke no laws.
Fast forward to this week, and that is no longer true. The star of the Netflix docuseries Cheer was arrested on Thursday on federal child pornography charges days after he was sued by twin brothers accusing him of sexual misconduct, according to police.
Jeremiah Jerry Harris, 21, was arrested today on a federal child pornography charge for allegedly enticing an underage boy to produce sexually explicit videos and photos of himself.
According to the U.S. Attorneys Office of the Northern District of Illinois, Harris contacted the underage boy on a social media application and repeatedly enticed him to produce sexually explicit videos and photographs of himself and send them to Harris.
While the press release only mentions the one victim, according to the criminal complaint, admitted to soliciting and receiving child pornography on Snapchat from at least between 10 to 15 other individuals he knew were minors. Also, he admitted to engaging in anal and oral sex with a 15 year old minor while on the clock for Netflix at a cheer event in 2019.
On the sole charge for which Harris was arrested Thursday, production of child pornography is punishable by a minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum of 30 years. However, if he is charged on the admissions in the criminal complaint, he could face the possibility of the rest of his life in prison.
To state the obvious, this arrest will not bode well for Netflix current situation.