Featured Image Credit: Netflix
Topics: LGBTQ, Netflix, TV and Film, Jeffrey Dahmer
Jake Massey
Netflix has removed the LGBTQ tag on its new Jeffrey Dahmer series following a backlash.
Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story - a dramatisation of the crimes of the prolific serial killer and cannibal who killed 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991 - has caused quite a stir since it dropped on the streaming service.
Beyond the usual concerns about rehashing and romanticising the crimes of heinous individuals, the fact it was categorised under Netflix's LGBTQ tag raised a lot of eyebrows.
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On TikTok, one person wrote said: "This is not the representation we're looking for."
Another TikToker said she was 'livid' and 'flabbergasted' about the tag, highlighting that the show was tagged as both 'LGBTQ' and 'Horror'.
Highlighting the LGBTQ tag, she said it 'associates us with a literal serial unaliver, cannibal, amongst other things I'm not sure I can say on this app'.
She added: "Jeffrey Dahmer is not the queer representation that we want, asked for, need - nothing."
As for the horror tag, she said: "I feel like horror implies a certain level of fiction and whimsy that is entirely non-existent and inappropriate for this situation."
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Though Dahmer and his crimes have been explored in many documentaries, films, books, and news articles, one detail that is often overlooked is the fact that many of his victims were LGBTQ+ people of colour (POC).
It's perhaps this reason why Netflix tagged the show under its LGBTQ content - though whatever the reason, it clearly didn't go down well with the viewers.
Over on Twitter, the fury was just as prevalent, with one writing: "No way they put an LGBTQ tag on the new Dahmer series like PLEASE."
Another added: "If I need to stay in my lane absolutely tell me but anyone else think it’s pretty gross of Netflix to list Dahmer under LGBTQ, especially when the True Crime tag would have worked?"
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Another quipped: "Guys my favourite LGBTQ series on Netflix is: Rupaul’s Drag Race, Dahmer, and Queer Eye."
It seems Netflix listened to the criticism, as the 10-part series is no longer tagged under LGBTQ.
LADbible has contacted Netflix for comment.
A synopsis of the show reads: "Between 1978 and 1991, Jeffrey Dahmer gruesomely took the lives of seventeen innocent victims.
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"Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story is a series that exposes these unconscionable crimes, centered around the underserved victims and their communities impacted by the systemic racism and institutional failures of the police that allowed one of America's most notorious serial killers to continue his murderous spree in plain sight for over a decade."