Netflix says that the film is 'social comment against the sexualization of young children'
The politicized battle over Netflix's "Cuties" has now drawn the Obamas to the combination, with some calling on them to use their influence on the company to have the series nixed in the stage.
Uproar ensued before the film was even released on the stage, after a poster of the French independent movie "Mignonnes," or "Cuties," portrayed half-clothed young girls, with many stating the movie would sexualize kids or provide fodder for pedophiles.
Netflix said in a statement that it is a "social comment contrary to the sexualization of young children."
Fox News contributor Rachel Campos-Duffy wrote an op-ed for "The Federalist" Monday headlined, "Michelle Obama is Complicit at Netflix Child Porn Film 'Cuties.' "
"It is also undermining her brand as 'America's mom' and chief defender of female empowerment throughout the world."
Last year, the Obamas signed a deal said to be worth $50 million with all the streaming platform to produce content through their production company Higher Ground.
Radio talk-show sponsor Larry O'Connor reported the Obamas "are enhanced from the company that has presented this trash to the entire world," but they "refuse to say anything... anything at all about this horrible matter."
"The main character in #Cuties is the 11yr old black woman. In this day & age, there's no method @netfflix put out movie sexually exploiting a black girl w/o acceptance from their influential partners: the Obama's & Susan Rice. Not happening.
A number of lawmakers, including Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., and Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., have called for a Justice Department investigation.
The movie, based in an 11-year-old Senegalese immigrant residing in Paris, is the debut of French manager Maïmouna Doucouré. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah last year and earned Doucouré a best directing award.
In the film, the main character, Amy, ends up joining a clique of girls who call themselves the "Cuties" -- and also carry out provocative amounts -- as a means of rebelling against their conservative Muslim parents.
The lawmakers' letter went on to push for a probe into the casting calls for the movie to guarantee none of the children were taken advantage of at a sexual or exploitative method.
"It's reasonable to state that the provocative dances depicted throughout Cuties is an affront to your children's dignity and arouses the child sex trafficking trade," it lasted.
"The film routinely fetishizes and sexualizes these pre-adolescent girls as they perform dances simulating sexual behaviour in revealing clothing, such as a minumum of one scene with partial kid nudity," Cruz wrote in a letter to Attorney General William Barr Friday.
