Ukraine Minister Slams ‘Emily In Paris’ For ‘Offensive’ Character Portrayal
Kiev, Jan 4: Ukraine Minister of Culture Oleksandr Tkachenko has filed a complaint to Netflix over the “offensive” way in which his country’s citizen is portrayed in season 2 of Netflix series ‘Emily in Paris’.
According to CNN, Petra, played by Ukrainian actress Daria Panchenko, is introduced as a classmate of Emily but makes a bad impression on lead character when she unapologetically steals clothes from a local mall and encourages her to do the same, before sprinting off onto the streets of Paris.
The minister wrote in a post on his official Telegram channel, “In ‘Emily in Paris’ we have a caricature of a Ukrainian woman, which is unacceptable. On the other hand, it is also offensive. Will Ukrainians be seen as such abroad? Who steal, want to get everything for free, be afraid of deportation? That should not be the case.”
He further said, “Netflix is ​​well acquainted with Ukraine, suffice to say that most of the streets of Paris in the movie ‘The Last Mercenary’ were filmed in Kiev.”
Just days after the release of ‘Emily in Paris’ season 2, which started on December 22, the Minister condemned the storyline.
He said, “In addition, with the popularization of our culture, Europeans and Americans have heard about our artists and beyond. At least about the conductor Oksana Lyniv, tennis player Elina Svitolina, singer Jamala, designer Vita Kin.”
“But this is probably not enough. And we will have to continue to fight stereotypes. Because if in the 90s and 2000s Ukrainian guys were portrayed mostly as gangsters, over time that has changed.”
