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Courtney Stodden has criticised Euphoria’s sexualisation of child images and addressed the picture of Sydney Sweeney’s character, Cassie, posing with a dummy in her mouth and wearing a nappy.
The media personality, 31, has said of the moment in the widely panned third HBO season: ‘this is not accidental – it’s written, approved, styled, filmed and released by adults’.
She said: ‘I almost didn’t say anything about this because it’s easier to stay quiet and pretend it’s just TV. But, we’re grown. We know exactly what we’re looking at.
‘This doesn’t happen by accident. This is written and approved, styled, filmed and released by adults. A grown man wrote this and at every step other adults agreed to it.
‘And we’re still calling it art.’
Euphoria fans have said some of series three’s ‘disturbing’ and ‘misogynistic’ scenes, released on Monday have ‘gone too far this time’, leaving them uncomfortable.
There is mounting criticism of creator Sam Levinson as almost all of the leading women in the show now engage in some kind of sex work or are ‘exploited and humiliated’ by the male characters in the show.
In series three Rue (Zendaya) becomes a drug mule and is involved in the managing of a strip club, Cassie, (Sweeney) makes money as an OnlyFans model and Jules (played by Hunter Schafer) is working as a high-end sugar baby.
Courtney, who married 51-year-old actor, Doug Hutchinson, when she was aged 16 at a Vegas wedding chapel in 2011, has said we need to stop normalising this as art or entertainment.
She said: ‘This isn’t about shock value. It’s about being honest because when you repeatedly frame youth innocence and vulnerability through a sexualised lens, that’s not accidental.
‘That’s perspective. And perspective really matters.
‘And the people who choose to participate in that, they have a huge responsibility too because what you agree to be a part of becomes what gets normalized.
‘And calling it art doesn’t remove the damage. It just makes people feel more comfortable ignoring it and thinking it’s okay.
‘And I have a lot of respect for someone like Zendaya. Someone who’s been intentional about what she aligns herself with and where she draws her line because that matters.
‘Because what we normalize in entertainment doesn’t stay there.’
She continued: ‘It shapes how people think, what they tolerate, what they stop questioning and I’m not interested in pretending that that’s harmless because it’s not.
‘We’re grown. We know the difference.’
Courtney has said she was groomed by her ex-husband Doug, who she divorced in 2020.
When announcing her divorce, she said on Instagram: ‘I’ve been scared to even speak up about feeling groomed or being verbally abused during the almost 10 year marriage because I was a child and he was 50 when we married.
‘But I’m a woman now and it’s time for me to put my big girl pants on and speak on this matter. I’ve felt completely trapped, manipulated and at times abandoned by adults // growing up in such an environment — it became a lonely and dark place.’
Courtney isn’t alone in her criticism of Euphoria’s latest series.
Many have taken issue with the ‘misogynistic’ storylines as one viewer summed up their feelings on X, writing: ‘Does Sam Levinson know there are other career paths for women other than sex work or…?’
And in particular, they slammed the image of Sydney holding her dummy in her mouth with her legs open.
The star could be seen wearing a sheer pink top as well as white bottoms in a snippet of the teaser.
Her curly locks were styled into two pigtails while a pink pacifier was placed in her mouth as she struck a racy pose on a yellow couch.
Social media users jumped over to Reddit and X to share their thoughts on the moment, with one penning, ‘Had to rewind the baby outfit scene because surely I wasn’t seeing what I thought I’d just seen???’
Another typed, ‘Sydney girl, you can say no to scenes,’ and a fan wrote, ‘wtf the baby scene??’
Over on X, a fan commented, ‘CASSIE COME HOME, wtf did they do to you???’ and another said, ‘what wtf did they do to cassie… that’s not even the same person.’
‘Why do they always do Cassie wrong?’ one shared, and another added, ‘THEY DID CASSIE DIRTY.’
An X user penned, ‘WTF SYDNEY DRESSED AS A BABY POSING LIKE THAT??!!??!! IM DISGUSTEDDDDD – JAIL FOR EVERYONE.’
One also questioned, ‘why was she sitting like that and why was she dressed like that..,’ while another typed, ‘i wanna go back to 10 seconds ago where i hadn’t seen this wtf.’
‘Dressing up as a baby is crazy this is so gross,’ a fan said of the trailer, and one wrote, ‘Cassie about to cause chaos for 8 episodes straight.’
Sweeney’s character Cassie was introduced to the episode of living inside a large suburban home with fiancé Nate (Elordi).
She could be seen wearing a brown corset and skimpy bottoms as she posed for photos taken by a housekeeper.
The star also wore doggy ears on top of her head as well as a collar and leash as she posed for racy photos. At one point, she also licked water out of a bowl and bit down on a shoe while pretending to be a dog.
