The interactive Netflix cartoon Battle Kitty has left parents accusing the streamer of “grooming” their children.
The series, which premiered in April 2022, was created by Matt Layzell and follows a group of warriors in a medieval world going head-to-head with monsters on Battle Island.
The first season of the show features nine interactive episodes and has been rated TV-Y7. Critics and audiences praised the show for its representation of gender and sexuality and its unashamed humor. The entertainment website Comicon dubbed the series, “your gay messiah.”
Angry parents are claiming that the LGBT themes isn’t what’s causing issues in their households, instead, it’s the butts.
Unfortunately, that’s not an easy fix. Butts are an integral part of the show – just look at the 8-minute video that Netflix After School uploaded on YouTube, titled, “That’s It. Just the Butts. Battle Kitty Compilation.” The streamer doubled down, writing in the description, “Battle Kitty? More like, “BUTTle Kitty”, right? Kitty and friends got BACK!”
The show creator proudly owned that butts is a major player in the series, telling Wired in 2019, “There’s just something about little cute characters shaking their butts. I think there’s some ancient magic there.”
That said, parents are complaining that butt humor, especially in this show, isn’t all fun and games – and actually can be harmful to their children, who happen to be the show’s target audience. Social media influencer and Consent Educator Rosalia Rivera posted an Instagram Reel, breaking down her core complaints about the series, which includes the show’s focus on its character’s butts, the character’s outfit designs, and the “twerking” dance moves featured in episodes. During the video, she zoomed-in on Battle Kitty playing on her television and stated, “Why is there so much emphasis on this character’s butt and their fishnets, and the S&M gear?” (The “gear” which Rivera repeatedly refers to are strappy black outfit pieces with gray spikes.)
“I’m almost speechless but then again it’s Netflix and just like Balenciaga they tried to get away with sexualizing children,” Rivera wrote in the caption of her video. “There are so many sexual innuendos throughout the show that fortunately my kids don’t understand but certainly adults do.”
She continued to accuse the show of being a resource that “pedophiles would use to groom kids in their care or online to put them onto the show with the aim of normalizing this behaviour and humor.” Rivera criticizes Common Sense’s review of the show, which reads, “semi-interactive series is edgy fun, with cartoon violence.”
Rivera wrote, “I was also disappointed to see that @commonsenseorg only called it ‘edgy’ without properly qualifying this show as inappropriate for kids,” and asked for the outlet to change its rating and description.
Many parents agreed with Rivera in the comment section, with one writing, “Thanks for the warning! I sometimes let my kids choose from the kids section of Netflix without fully watching myself – certainly won’t be doing that anymore.”
Another mentioned Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, also on Netflix, stating that the violence in the opening sequence was inappropriate for their child. “It’s rated PG! Like who approved that for kids?! We turned it off after that and I was upset.” A third stated that they’re “no prude” but they wouldn’t let their middle school aged child watch the program as it is “made to appear to an ‘adult’ person’s sexual appetite and fetishes.”
This isn’t the first time Battle Kitty has come under fire. Last November, a Reddit user made a post about the show under the Parenting subreddit. They wrote, “Looks harmless from the thumbnail and summary but I just watched a good amount of it and the amount of butt stuff and references are so disturbing to me! One character smacks ass with her ponytail. Two other characters bend over and booty bump over and over. Made some armor for a battle, flaunted the tattoo on the butt.”
Decider reached out to Netflix and Battle Kitty reps for comment, but did not hear back by the time of reporting. As of now, the streamer has not made a decision to renew the series for a second season.