PTC Warns Parents About Return of HBO’s Teen-Themed Euphoria

Written by PTC | Published December 4, 2020

Even ‘Euphoria’ Creator Said Parents Will be “F-ing Freaked Out”

LOS ANGELES (December 4, 2020) – The Parents Television Council is warning parents about the return of the second season of HBO’s Euphoria on December 6, 2020.

Featuring a former Disney star, Euphoria is set in high school and focuses on a teenaged girl’s drug addiction and efforts to hide her drug use from her mother. In the six hours of Euphoria’s first season, there were nearly 400 uses of the “f-word;” male frontal nudity; close-ups of male genitals; female frontal nudity; depictions of statutory rape, depictions of illicit drug use, graphic violence, and extreme (and even illegal) sexual behavior.

“Parents beware! Euphoria is saturated with shockingly explicit content depicting high school-aged children that is intended to shock and offend your values. Don’t just take our word for it. Euphoria’s creator boasted, ‘There are going to be parents who are going to be totally f*cking freaked out,’ ahead of the show’s first season. He was right, as the program was filled with female and male frontal nudity, illicit drug use, and the harshest profanity. We anticipate the second season will be just as explicit and potentially as harmful to teens and preteens,” said PTC President Tim Winter.

“Release of the second season was delayed because of COVID, but it’s here now. And with so many kids stuck at home because of COVID, and with unprecedented – in some cases, unlimited – access to computer screens, much of it unsupervised, parents need to be on highest alert. If you have the HBO app on any devices that your kids have access to, we urge you either to drop your subscription or make sure you are using passwords and parental controls to prevent their access.

“With Euphoria, HBO is knowingly and deliberately marketing harmful content to impressionable teens and preteens with programming that centers on school-aged characters. For HBO to release a series like this – that graphically portrays drug abuse as way for teens to escape reality – is reckless and grossly irresponsible,” Winter said.

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