When Netflix began the promotions for the upcoming film, Cuties, it was a train wreck from the very first step. Cuties is the English title for the French film, Mignonnes, which gained critical acclaim at Sundance Film Festival. The movie criticised the grooming of pre-teen girls. Netflix described the movie as a girl being "fascinated with a twerking dance crew" along with a hypersexualised poster of the preteen actresses. Director Maïmouna Doucouré has revealed that she received death threats when the controversy blew over on the internet. Cuties Controversy: Netflix Apologises for Inappropriate and Sexualised Promotion for Film About Pre-Teen Girls.

Netflix has apologised to her and to the public for misleading promotion. "I received numerous attacks on my character from people who had not seen the film, who thought I was actually making a film that was apologetic about hypersexualiation of children," Maïmouna  said."I also received numerous death threats."

She added, "My reaction? It was a strange experience. I hadn’t seen the poster until after I started getting all these reactions on social media, direct messages from people, attacks on me. I didn’t understand what was going on. That was when I went and saw what the poster looked like."

Cuties Poster Controversy (Photo Credits: File Image)

"We had several discussions back and forth after this happened. Netflix apologized publicly, and also personally to me," she revealed. The director revealed that Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos called her to apologise.

The director said that Cuties is her story. "I really put my heart into this film. It’s actually my personal story as well as the story of many children who have to navigate between a liberal western culture and a conservative culture at home," she told Deadline.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 04, 2020 06:44 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).