Zendaya is speaking out against the claims that her show Euphoria promotes addictions among teenagers.
After representatives from the D.A.R.E program expressed that the show “misguidedly glorifies” the excessive consumption of drugs.
One representative said, “Rather than further each parent’s desire to keep their children safe from the potentially horrific consequences of drug abuse and other high-risk behavior, HBO’s television drama, Euphoria, chooses to misguidedly glorify and erroneously depict high school student drug use, addiction, anonymous sex, violence, and other destructive behaviors as common and widespread in today’s world.”
However, in a recent interview, the Emmy-awarding winning actress explains the most recent episode, where her character Rue is seen going through painful withdrawals and her attempts to avoid getting treatment.
“She’s in the midst of a degenerative disease and it’s taking control of her life,” Zendaya stated. “And in many ways, she feels out of control. She doesn’t have the ability to control her emotions, her body.”
She added, “Rue has lost all control of who she is…and you can see there’s a little moment after that where all of it becomes regret. You can see her doing it and then immediately regretting it and wondering why she’s doing it. And then she does it again like it’s just a really painful cycle to watch her go through. And I didn’t particularly enjoy having to watch her deal with that.”
Zendaya concluded with, “Our show is in no way a moral tale to teach people how to live their life or what they should be doing. If anything, the feeling behind Euphoria, or whatever we have always been trying to do with it, is to hopefully help people feel a little bit less alone in their experience and their pain. And maybe feel like they’re not the only one going through or dealing with what they’re dealing with.”
If you watch the show, what are your thoughts on these claims?