Netflix Accused Of Supporting Eugenics, Activists Demand Removal
Netflix is being accused of supporting eugenics, after the reality show featured a contestant endorsing the abortion of disabled unborn babies.
Netflix is coming under fire after a contestant on their reality series Love Is Blind talked about possibly having an abortion if she found out her child would have special needs. The negative feedback accuses the streaming platform of supporting ableist and pro-eugenics views, instead of removing the content outright and allowing the comments to be aired on the reality show. The contestant in question is Nancy Rodriguez, a speech pathologist who told her match Bartiste about how if she found out her child would have disabilities that she would “try again and hope that the second time, it’s better.”
Rodriguez went on to provide reasons, saying how she works with kids with disabilities and that she feels like it negatively affects the families. Many viewers were angered by the content and Netflix’s lack of action, with a petition garnering nearly 2000 signatures (via We Got This Covered) for the streaming platform to remove the comments and apologize for airing them in the first place. At this time, Netflix has yet to make adjustments to the content.
It would certainly make sense for Netflix to at least provide some sort of content warning to warn viewers of potentially upsetting or controversial discussions. The series with the comments — Love Is Blind — is a fairly innocuous series overall, where contestants meet in pods where they can’t see each other and decide if they want to propose to someone based on emotional connection alone. The series then follows them after their time in the pods as they decide whether or not to marry the partner they connected with.
To say Love Is Blind is not really the place for hot-button topics is understating things, to say the least. You don’t really tune in to a goofy reality show to hear people talk about their views on people with disabilities. If Netflix decides not to remove the content due to its offensive nature, it would at least be helpful to give people a heads-up that the conversations might be heading in that direction.
Love is Blind is currently in its third season and the original reality TV series is a pretty big hit for Netflix. With a large number of viewers, controversial comments like these are definitely going to reach social media, and the backlash is bound to spread. Inaction on the streaming giant’s part probably won’t be a good look, so we’ll have to see how they decide to respond.
This isn’t the first time that Netflix’s Love Is Blind has come under fire, as the show has also been criticized for a lack of diversity in the past. It seems likely the show will continue with more seasons due to its popularity, so we’ll have to see if they take the feedback to heart and make any changes. People have also been looking for the show to include more LGBTQ+ representation as well.
We’ll have to see how this all pans out, as Netflix will be airing the season finale tomorrow. There will also be a reunion special that sees the contestants meet up again after the results of the season finale. You can currently stream the first ten episodes of Season 3.
