Netflix has been accused of glorifying sex trafficking and taken some serious heat for cashing in on the Baby Squillo scandal by commissioning an Italian drama series similar to the real life events, Deadline reported.
The National Center on Sexual Exploitation criticized the streaming service for ordering an eight art drama series titled “Baby,” reportedly inspired by the true story of Mauro Floriani, the husband of dictator Benito Mussolini’s grand-daughter Alessandra Mussolini, who was implicated in a teen prostitution racket.
While Netflix described “Baby” as a fictional story that followed the lives of a group of teenagers on a quest to push boundaries and defy social norms, survivors of sex trafficking called for the show’s cancellation, Reuters reported.
A letter to Netflix from NCOSE Vice President Lisa Thompson and co-signed by 56 survivors of sex trafficking, experts and social service workers, said the series normalized child sex abuse and the sex trafficking of minors.
The letter was submitted on Thursday, which was National Human Trafficking Awareness Day, and comes not long after Netflix axed Kevin Spacey amid accusations of sexual misconduct – an act which Thompson felt was contradictory.
“To turn around and produce a show that glorifies the sex trafficking of minors and dub it ‘edgy entertainment’ is the height of hypocrisy and social irresponsibility,” she said in a follow-up statement.
“If Netflix executives care more about ending sexual exploitation in this #MeToo moment than about profiting from sexually exploitive themes, they will cancel production of this show immediately,” she added.
Thompson said that by continuing with production of “Baby,” Netflix was favoring profit over people or, in this instance, “minors who are exploited, manipulated, and sold for sex.”
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