Everyone's talking about Euphoria – but, right now, it's unfortunately for the wrong reasons.
No sooner did we learn that the hit teen high school show from the US was being renewed for a third season (yay!) than we heard the bad news: that Barbie Ferreira, who plays central character Kat Hernandez for two seasons, had quit the show.
Now, Barbie was today announced to be joining Amazon Prime Video's House of Spoils film, so it seems this may be simply a case of competing filming schedules. But, according to internet bods, there are rumours of an alleged feud between the show's creator and writer, Sam Levinson, and Barbie – which have been chronicled by American publications such as Decider – and some have speculated this may have motivated Barbie's decision to leave (who was initially expected to be part of season three).
Barbie's abrupt exit followed a pre-existing backlash surrounding Hunter Schafer, who plays Jules, another leading character on the show. In a complicated controversy, Schafer, who is a trans woman, is believed to have endorsed an anti-non-binary Instagram post, which she is said to have “liked” and commented on with exclamation marks. The post, shared by user @piggytaiwan, is critical of “enbies” – or those who identify as gender-non-binary, which means they do not associate with a specific gender.
Stars Zendaya, Sydney Sweeney, Jacob Elordi and Hunter Schafer are also set to return.
In the comments section, some have criticised Hunter's apparent endorsement, sharing comments where they accuse Hunter of “internalised transphobia” and being “trans-lite”, according to comments shared in Page Six.
The drama intensified with a backlash to a series of photographs that star Sydney Sweeney, who plays Cassie on the show, shared on Instagram Stories and on her grid from her mother's surprise 60th birthday party. The party was hoedown-themed (a Texas-inspired American folk dance party), and everyone is wearing cowboy-inspired outfits and hats.
Yet some Instagram users have taken issue with the attire of some of the fellow partygoers: one wears a Blue Lives Matter shirt, while others wore “Make Sixty Great Again” hats – a reference to Donald Trump's “Make America Great Again” catchphrase.
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Sydney has responded to the backlash on Twitter, suggesting that her “innocent celebration” has been turned into an “absurd political statement”.
Suffice to say it's been a tough, and slightly bonkers, week for the Euphoria cast.