The latest Netflix boycott push started before the show it targets was even out. “The Body,” an eight-episode series that premiered on Nov. 11, 2026, carries Netflix’s TV-MA rating for adults. Yet Netflix’s own title page lists it under “Teen TV Shows.” Petitions now ask the company to pull it, and one had more than 58,000 signatures by release day, the Church Gazette reported.
This is not the first time families and faith groups have organized against Netflix, and it will not be the last. Below is what Netflix’s own pages show about “The Body,” what the petitions say, a dated history of the major Netflix boycott campaigns since 2020, and what the “teen” label means for parents who rely on Netflix’s controls.
What Netflix’s Own Pages Show About “The Body”
Netflix’s title page for “The Body” (viewed Nov. 13, 2026) lists the show as a 2026 series with 8 episodes, rated TV-MA. Its genres are “TV Dramas, Teen TV Shows, TV Mysteries, LGBTQ+ TV Shows.” Under “This show is,” Netflix tags it “Teen,” “High School” and “Steamy,” among others. The page’s summary: “On Halloween night, an all-girls dance squad tumbles into Catholic guilt, unholy desires and ghostly visions when an initiation goes to hell.”
Netflix’s fan site, Tudum, says the show “landed on Netflix on Nov. 11, 2026.” It describes a “Catholic school dance troupe” whose “ritual-gone-wrong leads to a mass frenzy that engulfs an entire community.” Creator and showrunner Quinn Shephard told Tudum: “It’s a raunchy teen psychodrama with a dash of Catholic horror.”
What the Petitions Say
One campaign is addressed to Peter Rice, whom Netflix named chief content officer effective Oct. 26, 2026, with copies to co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters. According to the Church Gazette’s Nov. 11 report, 58,338 people had signed at the time of writing, toward a goal of 100,000. The campaign argues that because Netflix places a TV-MA series in its teen content category, minors can reach it on family devices without effective parental supervision. The petition also points back to “Cuties,” which it says led Netflix to apologize publicly after pressure from families.
Two other petitions take aim at the show’s religious content. A TFP petition to Sarandos and Peters quotes a line it says comes from the official trailer, in which a character asks the “Prince of Darkness” to accept a “most holy virgin sacrifice” in exchange for placing at a dance competition. A LifePetitions petition, which showed 16,258 signatures when viewed on Nov. 13, calls the series “anti-Catholic” and objects to a Netflix promotional post on All Saints’ Day.
That post is real. On Nov. 1, 2026, All Saints’ Day, Netflix’s verified X account posted “Patrons saints.” with an image of five of the show’s characters framed as lace-edged holy cards, each with a mock title such as “The Patron Saint of Sacrifice.” The LifePetitions page says one figure “appears to imitate Jesus Christ wearing the crown of thorns.”
“I urge you to respect the Catholic Faith and the millions of people who practice it.”
TFP petition letter to Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters, November 2026
As of Nov. 13, 2026, Woke Broke List found no public statement from Netflix responding to the petitions.
Netflix Boycott History: A Dated Timeline
- Aug. 20, 2020: the “Cuties” poster. Netflix’s artwork for the French film “Cuties,” about an 11-year-old girl who joins a dance group, drew wide criticism from people who said the poster sexualized children. Netflix apologized: “We’re deeply sorry for the inappropriate artwork that we used for Cuties. It was not OK,” and replaced the image, Deadline reported.
- September to October 2020: #CancelNetflix. After the film began streaming in September, the hashtag #CancelNetflix trended, and Sen. Ted Cruz was among the lawmakers who said the movie sexualized young girls. A Tyler County, Texas, grand jury then indicted Netflix for “promotion of lewd visual material depicting a child.” The district attorney later dropped that charge and obtained new indictments, but a federal judge blocked the prosecution after finding he had acted in bad faith, and the Fifth Circuit upheld that ruling in December 2023. Netflix said the film “is a social commentary against the sexualization of young children” and that “this charge is without merit and we stand by the film,” CNN reported.
- October 2021: Dave Chappelle’s “The Closer.” This time the pressure came from the left. Critics called the comedy special transphobic, and employees staged a walkout on Oct. 20. Sarandos said he “screwed up” his internal messages to staff but kept the special on the service, telling employees Netflix does not carry titles “designed to incite hate or violence, and we don’t believe The Closer crosses that line,” The Verge reported.
- May 2022: the culture memo. Netflix added an “Artistic Expression” section to its employee culture memo. It says the company lets “viewers decide what’s appropriate for them,” offers “ratings, content warnings and easy to use parental controls,” and tells staff, “If you’d find it hard to support our content breadth, Netflix may not be the best place for you,” Variety reported.
- October 2025: “Cancel Netflix.” Elon Musk posted on X, “Cancel Netflix for the health of your kids,” amid backlash over “Dead End: Paranormal Park,” an animated series with a transgender character, CNBC reported. Netflix did not respond to CNBC’s requests for comment.
- November 2026: “The Body.” Netflix’s X account posted its “Patrons saints.” image on Nov. 1, the series premiered on Nov. 11, and petitions asked Netflix to pull it, as described above.
In between came Narnia. In October 2026, faith-minded fans pushed back on Netflix’s first Narnia film, directed by Greta Gerwig, after Meryl Streep was cast as the voice of Aslan, the lion considered a literary representation of Christ. We covered that fight in Netflix’s Narnia Problem.
Analysis: A TV-MA Show on a Teen Shelf
Netflix sorts content two ways, and “The Body” shows how they can pull in different directions. The first is the maturity rating. Netflix’s Help Center groups TV-14 and PG-13 as “Recommended for Teens” and puts TV-MA under “Recommended for Adults.” It also says that “profiles with a maturity level set will only display titles that match the selected maturity rating level.” So on a profile capped at the teen level, a TV-MA show like “The Body” should not appear.
The second is the genre shelf. “Teen TV Shows” is a browsing and marketing category, not a rating, and Netflix chose to put an adult-rated, “Steamy”-tagged series on it. That is the core of the petitioners’ complaint. A teenager watching on a parent’s unrestricted profile, or on a shared TV where nobody set limits, sees a show labeled “Teen” and may never notice the adult rating, which Netflix shows on the details page and only briefly when a title starts playing.
Netflix’s own culture memo puts the burden on families: the company says it lets “viewers decide what’s appropriate for them” and points to parental controls. If that is the deal, the labels have to be consistent. Calling a show “Teen” while rating it for adults sends parents two signals at once.
The tools do exist. Netflix’s parental controls page lists these steps: create a profile for kids, set profile maturity ratings or block specific titles, lock your own profile and others with a PIN, require a PIN to add a new profile, and check a profile’s viewing history. The most important of these is the lock on adult profiles, because a maturity limit on a child’s profile does nothing if the child can open an unlocked adult one.
Netflix is not the only entertainment company to face organized consumer pushback over content. See our look at Disney’s box-office flops for how the backlash has played out there.
What It Means for the Netflix Grade
Netflix now holds an F, 71 out of 100, on the Netflix Woke Company Report and appears on the Woke Broke List boycott list. The report already counts the 2020 “Cuties” poster and Netflix’s apology for it. It was updated after Netflix’s own title page listed “The Body,” rated TV-MA and tagged “Steamy,” under “Teen TV Shows” and tagged it “Teen.” Any new finding goes through the review described in our methodology before a grade moves. Scores are Woke Broke List’s opinion based on the facts we disclose.
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