96,000 People Have Signed A Petition To Get “Insatiable” Cancelled On Netflix

23 July 2018, 16:56 | Updated: 23 July 2018, 17:25

The petition has almost reached it's goal of 150,000 signatures.

Netflix has found itself catching a bit of heat over the past week thanks to the upcoming dark-comedy series Insatiable, and the backlash surrounding the show doesn't seem to be slowing down.

Last week, when the trailer for Insatiable dropped, it was met with a huge negative reaction on Twitter. Many called the show out for 'fat shaming' and for promoting toxic body image stereotypes along with the incredibly problematic narrative that being overweight is undesirable in contrast to being skinny and beautiful.

Now, a petition that calls for Netflix to completely pull the show before it even airs has appeared online... and it's already got 96,000 signatures.

The petition, which was started by Florence Given, explains how damaging the show could be to young children.

"The toxicity of this series, is bigger than just this one particular series. This is not an isolated case, but part of a much larger problem that I can promise you every single woman has faced in her life, sitting somewhere on the scale of valuing their worth on their bodies, to be desirable objects for the male gaze. That is exactly what this series does. It perpetuates not only the toxicity of diet culture, but the objectification of women's bodies.

This series needs to be cancelled. The damage control of releasing this series will be far worse, insidious and sinister for teenage girls, than it will be damaging for Netflix in their loss of profit.

This series will cause eating disorders, and perpetuate the further objectification of women's bodies. The trailer has already triggered people with eating disorders. Let's stop this, and protect further damage."

At time of writing, the petition has almost reached its 150,000 signature aim in just three days.

Debby Ryan, who plays main character Patty in the series, issued a statement about the backlash on Twitter following the initial complaints about the content of the show.

She writes: “It was very important to Lauren Gussis, our writer and showrunner from whose brain and heart and life the character of Patty was born, as well as to me, that any scenes where Patty was heavier don’t use her size as a punchline, and never justify the abuse she suffers. The humor is not in the fat-shaming (or thin-shaming, slut-shaming, virgin-shaming, ‘glam-shaming,’ for fans of Arie’s season of the Bachelor…). The redemption is in identifying the bullies and saying ‘this is not okay.’”

“We’re not in the business of fat shaming. We’re out to turn a sharp eye on broken, harmful systems that equate thinness with worth... I hope fans will wait and watch the show before passing judgment,” she finishes. “If you go for this ride, I think you’ll recognize both yourself and the things that make you mad about our fractured and beauty-obsessed culture.”

Netflix have yet to respond to the backlash surrounding the series.