Netflix is one of the most buzz-worthy media companies on the planet, but that buzz is not always the good kind.
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While the streaming service gathers some of the best reviews and fan-excitement out there, they sometimes drop the ball and greenlight questionable premises or let questionable behind-the-scenes practices and legal issues muck things up.
Shows have dealt with actors accused of terrible crimes, pay disparity disputes, representation issues and political criticism is recent years, with the fallout bringing about major changes behind-the-scenes.
Scroll through to see Netflix‘s most controversial shows.
’13 Reasons Why’
13 Reasons Why was one of Netflix’s biggest successes, but it also led to one of the show’s biggest controversies.
The show’s entire premise centers around the suicide of a young woman, Hannah Baker (Katherine Langford). Before her death, she recorded a series of tapes explaining why she killed herself to each of the people responsible for inflicting emotional damage on her.
Many interpreted the message of the show as suicide being a fitting way to get revenge on people and deal with a problem. There were even some copycat deaths blamed on the show, but Netflix still renewed the series for a second season.
‘Insatiable’
This Netflix show is not even out yet, but people are already angry about it.
Insatiable stars Jessie alum Debby Ryan as “Fatty Patty,” a high school student repeatedly teased and bullied for being overweight. Patty is then attacked by someone and is forced to have her jaw wired shut for months.
With Patty’s jaw wired shut, her diet drastically changes and her weight disappears over summer vacation. She comes back to school revitalized and out for revenge on everyone who bullied her.
Based on the trailer, numerous Twitter users are up-in-arms over the seemingly underlying themes of the series. Many point to that fact that it may show impressionable viewers that they have to starve themselves to lose weight and gain social acceptability.
‘The Ranch’
The Ranch is one of Netflix’s most successful sitcoms, but it was recently struck with a load of controversy.
Danny Masterson, who plays lead character Rooster Bennett, was accused of sexual assault by numerous women. Masterson denied the allegations, but Netflix decided to cut ties with the actor.
If the accusations and firing were not controversial enough, the service decided to air episodes filmed before Masterson’s firing without editing him out at all.
‘House of Cards’
House of Cards was marred with similar issues in late 2017.
Star Kevin Spacey, who played main character Frank Underwood, was accused of countless sexual assault and harassment crimes.
Netflix was forced to act, firing Spacey and overhauling the show’s final season to be solely about Frank’s wife Claire (Robin Wright).
‘Dear White People’
Dear White People is acclaimed and adored by critics and fans alike, but many people attacked the show based on its title alone.
While the show is all about racial commentary and appropriation of black culture, most people took the show’s premise as a racist attack at white people without ever watching an episode.
‘The Crown’
The Crown seems like an unlikely target for a scandal, but it found itself at the center of a discussion about equal wages.
After their two season stint on the shown ended, it was revealed that co-lead Matt Smith was paid much more than Claire Foy, who played the central character of Queen Elizabeth.
Many demanded that Netflix and the show’s producers pay the actress more retroactively or make a large donation to the Time’s Up movement. It is unclear if they did either of those things, but producers vowed that future actresses who play the Queen Elizabeth on the show will not be paid less than any other star.
‘Atypical’
Atypical is a show meant to give better representation to people with autism. However, it seemed to not dig into an authentic autistic experience. Many people in the autism community, including Huffington Post contributor Haley Moss, heavily criticized the show for this.
“Nobody is a perfect stereotype in real life,” Moss wrote in her review. “Sam simply misses every social cue, finds every excuse possible to talk about penguins and Antarctica, and appears inherently selfish and inconsiderate. He becomes the joke. He knows he’s weird, and he doesn’t really care, except when it comes to his quest to have a girlfriend and have sex. He ignores people’s feelings, and every line of dialogue he has somehow involves a social misstep.”
She continues, “With autism, it isn’t always this obvious, and at least for me, the awkward moments and miscues are more nuanced. These stereotypes are damaging to autistic people, their families, and their friends. Instead of helping us, the show hurts us by falsely portraying us as creepy, insensitive, and just really awkward. “
‘Sacred Games’
Netflix’s first Indian original series, Sacred Games, is stirring up types of legal issues the streaming service was probably not expecting.
Late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi is referred to Gandhi as “fattu,” an insult translated as “p—y.”
Upon the show’s release, Kolkata politician Rajeev Kumar Sinha of the opposition Congress party filed a police complaint against Netflix and the actor who delivered the line, Nawazuddin Siddiqui.
“The use of abusive language is not justified. I don’t think we can go back into history and abuse people this way,” Sinha told TIME.
However, Sinha withdrew the complaint after Rahul Gandhi, Gandhi’s son and president of the Congress party, stood up for the series and the right for freedom of expression.
