As Euphoria Fixates on Naked Teen Girl, PTC Petitions AT&T/HBO to Stop Airing Child-Themed Pornography

LOS ANGELES (January 20, 2022) – The Parents Television and Media Council (PTC) is urging members of the public to sign its petition calling on AT&T/HBO to stop airing child-themed pornography, in light of HBO’s most recent episode of teen-targeted Euphoria that fixated on the naked body of a high-school-aged female character as she engaged in various sex acts with another character.

“With its dark, nihilistic, teen-centered Euphoria, HBO is sexually exploiting children for profit. The producers’ aberrant fixation with nude child characters engaged in sexual activity is something we’ve not seen in 26 years of monitoring television programming. HBO touts the show as its ‘youngest-skewing drama series’ on its streaming platform, which suggests teens are in fact watching. This grotesque sexualization of children must cease. We are urging members of the public to sign our petition calling on HBO and AT&T to do exactly that,” said PTC President Tim Winter.

“Hollywood celebrates its ability to influence our culture when it’s something they care about positively, yet they reject any such influence when there is resulting harm. They can’t have it both ways. A publicly traded corporation in the United States of America should cease any investment that results in the sexual exploitation of children, period.”

To date, Euphoria Season 2 has: Shown high school aged characters and adults in explicit sex scenes, including multiple on-screen depictions of male genitalia and female breasts; Mainstreamed underage drinking and illicit drug use; Uses graphic violence; Constantly barrages viewers with explicit language (over 364 “f-words” in two episodes). (Content examples and additional data can be viewed here.)

Media outlets have reported that Euphoria’s second season promises to be “darker” than the first season. Programming Insider reported that Euphoria is the “youngest skewing drama series” on HBO’s digital platform.

“Our nation’s children are at risk with the messages they see and hear in entertainment programming and in social media. A recent study found that nearly 1 in 7 children aged 9-12 shared their own nude photos last year, almost triple the number from just one year earlier. The Surgeon General has warned about a mental health crisis among young people. Hollywood, if it wanted to, could help lead the healing process by producing and marketing less darkness to children,” Winter concluded.