Report: Netflix Faces Criminal Charge over ‘Cuties’ in Texas

Streaming giant Netflix is facing a fresh criminal charge in the state of Texas over the hyper-sexual preteen twerking film Cuties, according to a Tuesday report.

NBC News reports:

A grand jury indictment for promotion of lewd visual material depicting a child was filed on September 23 in Tyler County, Texas, according to Texas Rep. Matt Schaefer.NBC News obtained a copy of the indictment Tuesday, confirming Schaefer’s tweet.

The indictment states that Netflix promoted, distributed and exhibited 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” for the “prurient interest in sex.” It also states that the material held no serious “literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.”

Netflix, Inc. indicted by grand jury in Tyler Co., Tx for promoting material in Cuties film which depicts lewd exhibition of pubic area of a clothed or partially clothed child who was younger than 18 yrs of age which appeals to the prurient interest in sex #Cuties #txlege pic.twitter.com/UJ1hY8XJ2l

— Matt Schaefer (@RepMattSchaefer) October 6, 2020

The development comes in the wake of Netflix facing immense backlash over its tween-twerking movie Cuties.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) recently led a group of Republican lawmakers in calling on the Justice Department to open a criminal investigation into Netflix, with the senator accusing the streaming giant of “peddling child pornography.”

“Like any parent, I find ⁦[Netflix’s]⁩ decision to peddle child pornography disgusting. And it’s criminal,” Cotton tweeted Saturday. “[The Justice Department] should take swift action.”

The Daily Caller was first to report Cotton’s letter to the Justice Department.

Joseph Travers, a rescuer of missing and trafficked children and founder of Saved in America, told SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Daily that Cuties could be used to groom children for sexual abuse.
“We’ve had 245 recoveries,” Travers said, “meaning we have 245 case studies. and one of the things we found out [is that there are] five steps of a predator’s grooming of children for child sex trafficking. … Out of the five steps, four of the steps are right in that Netflix film on how to groom a child for trafficking.”

“In other words, what I’m saying is Cuties could be a film that was made and created to train children to be trafficked for the traffickers,” he added.

The backlash was indeed bipartisan. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) hammered Netflix over its decision to release Cuties, calling the movie “child porn” and insisting that Netflix is “complicit” in fueling the child sex trafficking trade.