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'Cuties': Ted Cruz says every pedophile will watch Netflix film 'sexualizing' girls, asks DOJ to launch probe

He asked the Department of Justice to investigate whether the movie violates child pornography laws

Texas Senator Ted Cruz has lashed out against controversial Netflix film 'Cuties' amid claims that the movie sexualizes young girls and growing calls to 'cancel' the streaming giant. Cruz has now called for an investigation by the Department of Justice into the movie for child pornography after it sparked a major controversy upon release, Newsweek reported.

"'Cuties' sexualizes 11-year-old girls, and it's disgusting and wrong," the Republican Senator tweeted. "That's why I've asked AG Barr to investigate whether Netflix, its executives, or the filmmakers violated any federal laws against the production and distribution of child pornography." The movie, titled 'Mignonnes' in French, was created by French-Senegalese filmmaker Maïmouna Doucouré and follows the story of a traditional Senegalese Muslim household. Cruz's tweet was accompanied by a clip of himself discussing the controversial film on Fox News. "This movie 'Cuties', it sexualizes 11-year-old girls, has them dancing like strippers, has them in very suggestive sexual roles," he said. "It's frankly disgusting. Kids ought to be preserved, and we ought to protect them."

"Netflix is an incredibly profitable US company," Cruz noted. "Barack Obama makes a ton of money from Netflix. And they are profiting. They are making money by selling the sexual exploitation of young kids. So I asked the justice department to investigate them." He added: "If you have child porn, if you have kids engaged in sexual activities, if you produce it, if you distribute it, you face criminal penalties."

According to Netflix, however, the film is "a social commentary against the sexualization of young children." The streaming service later issued an apology for its "inappropriate" marketing of the film which raised eyebrows across the globe. "We're deeply sorry for the inappropriate artwork that we used for 'Mignonnes/Cuties'," Netflix said in a statement. "It was not OK, nor was it representative of this French film which won an award at Sundance. We've now updated the pictures and description."

Nonetheless, Cruz said he guarantees "every pedophile in America is gonna watch this movie," he said. "And that Netflix is sitting back fat and happy making money on it—that's not right."

Doucouré spoke to Refinery 29 about the backlash, saying her work has been misinterpreted. "'Cuties' is a mirror of our society, and I hope that we can all look at each other, and work together to make a better world," she said. "Imagine if all that energy that was devoted to blindly criticizing my film could be used towards protecting those who need it, and offering new role models." Meanwhile, she told Time that the "film tries to show that our children should have the time to be children, and we as adults should protect their innocence and keep them innocent as long as possible."

That said, a number of other politicians have railed against 'Cuties.' Last week, Matt Schaefer, a Republican member of the Texas House of Representatives, requested the state's AG to conduct a thorough investigation. "I have asked Texas Attorney General Paxton's office to investigate the @netflix film Cuties for possible violations of child exploitation and child pornography laws. #CUTIES #txlege," he tweeted.