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Brian Stelter Defends Interview With Netflix CEO Where He Appeared To Ignore ‘Cuties’ Backlash

(Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Vanity Fair)

Shelby Talcott Senior White House Correspondent
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CNN’s Brian Stelter defended his Sunday interview with Netflix CEO Reed Hastings after it didn’t include any questions about “Cuties,” a movie put onto the platform that has sparked widespread backlash.

The French film caused outrage for its depiction of young girls suggestively dancing, exploring pornography, discussion sexual acts and more. Many were also concerned regarding how directors filmed the movie, with close-up shots of young girls’ buttocks and crotches.

Netflix has since defended the film as a “social commentary against the sexualization of young children,” as the movie includes scenes showing disapproving reactions from some adults. The streaming website also described the movie as “a powerful story about the pressure young girls face on social media and from society” as they grow up.

Some reporters and politicians criticized Stelter for his interview with Hastings Sunday on CNN’s “Reliable Sources” because it did not include any questions about the movie. Stelter responded to criticism by writing that the interview was “taped several days ago.” (RELATED: ‘Child Porn’: Tulsi Gabbard Says She Canceled Her Netflix Account Over ‘Cuties’)

Stelter did not specify when the interview was taped, although the film has prompted issues since August, Townhall’s Julio Rosas noted.

Netflix apologized for a “Cuties” poster that is said was not “representative of this French film which premiered at Sundance.”