When Pink premiered in 2016, the Mexican movie generated controversy for its wildly offensive and inaccurate representation of the LGBTQ community. The film – directed by Paco del Toro – tells the story of a gay couple, portrayed by Pablo Cheng and Charly López, who adopt a child. Over the course of 100 minutes, it attempts to pin the family’s unhappiness on the couple’s queerness. It even goes as far as suggesting that the men have indoctrinated the young boy.
Pink punishes characters for their sexuality and is insulting on so many levels, which is why it’s not surprising that Mexicans eviscerated the film on social media and criticized movie chain Cinemex for showing it in its theaters. When Netflix Mexico added the movie to its catalog recently, the backlash followed.
According to Verne, Netflix removed the movie after “reviewing its content.” But the streaming company wouldn’t clarify how long it featured the movie. People like Luis Guzmán, vice president of Codise, say Netflix offered the movie as early as March 29. That day he learned through WhatsApp that he could stream it on the platform.
“I went into Netflix, and there it was,” he said. “Many colleagues began protesting on social media and sending Netflix petitions, expressing how they wouldn’t tolerate them including a movie like this on its platform.”
With public figures and social media users slamming Netflix for giving the film and its homophobic messages a soapbox, others felt that the director was exercising free speech. Therefore, removing it could qualify as censorship. But as Guzmán noted, the movie is an incomplete and unfair look at queerness – especially at a time when the LGBTQ community remains invisible in many mediums.