"Not making a point about race with this": Adolescence creators shut down allegations against the Netflix show 

Despite being a massive success worldwide, Netflix's Adolescence finds itself at the centre of a disturbing controversy. Created by Stephen Graham and Jack Thorne, Adolescence has drawn flak from certain sections that allege the Netflix limited series to be guilty of "race-swapping."

Such an allegation aims to undermine the gritty and realistic portrayal of complex themes such as knife-crimes, masculinity and its impact on the adolescent youth, as has been portrayed brilliantly throughout the four episodes of Adolescence on Netflix. Creator and writer Jack Thorne recently responded to these allegations on a podcast, thus clarifying the matter.

Here's everything that we know.

Jack Thorne resists allegations against Adolescence

The primary allegation against the Netflix show is the fact that the limited series has made its young protagonist a white boy and thus hinted at "race-swapping." Writer Jack Thorne recently spoke about this issue on The News Agent podcast where he explained that:

"Nothing is further from the truth, there is no part of this that's based on a true story, not one single part. It's absurd to say that this [crime] is only committed by Black boys. It's not true. And history shows a lot of cases of kids from all races committing these crimes."

He further added:

"We're not making a point about race with this. We are making a point about masculinity. We're trying to get inside a problem. We're not saying this is one thing or another, we're saying that this is about boys."

Stephen Graham speaks about Adolescence

There's no doubt that the Netflix show is one of the most important projects in British actor Stephen Graham's career as he not only appears on the limited series as Eddie Miller but has also written the show in collaboration with Jack Thorne. Graham recently spoke in an exclusive interview with Tudum where he expressed gratitude for the show's success:

"We made it with such love, such integrity, such respect, and it came from a place of passion for each and every single member [of] the crew — and I include the cast as the crew. We’re all a collective. And it was probably the most joyous experience I’ve ever had as an actor.…"

He also remarked:

"I think, because it was made from love, we made our little stone, our pebble or whatever it was, and we threw it into the universe, and it landed in the pond. And the ripple effect has been, in all honesty, slightly overwhelming. You have no idea of the impact it can have. But the intention was always from a place of purity, truth, and honesty."

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Adolescence is exclusively available on Netflix.

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