‘Normal People’ Producer Slams Pornhub for Circulating Sex Scenes: ‘Deeply Disrespectful’

Zack Sharf
·2 min read

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“Normal People” caused a stir on the internet when its 12-episode season dropped in its entirety April 29 on Hulu. The show’s intimate sex scenes generated dozens of think pieces and led many publications to ask stars Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal what it was like to film such intense and emotionally-charged moments. A 22-minute compilation of the show’s sex scenes recently found its way to Pornhub, one of the world’s most-viewed adult websites, prompting executive producer Ed Guiney to speak out on the illegal circulation of these sequences from the series.

“We’re hugely disappointed that excerpts from the series of ‘Normal People’ have been used in this way,” Guiney said to Variety. “It’s both a violation of copyright and more importantly, it’s deeply disrespectful to the actors involved and to the wider creative team. We have taken appropriate steps to require that the content be removed from the platform with immediate effect.”

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Pornhub removed the 22-minute video off its website after being notified by Guiney team. The adult website’s vice president Corey Price said in a statement: “Pornhub is fully compliant with the law. We respect all copyright requests and as soon as we become aware of the existence of these types of videos on our site, we have them removed.”

While the compilation has been removed from Pornhub, Variety reports “illegal cuts of intimate scenes from ‘Normal People’ are also circulating on other sites on the internet, highlighting the challenge facing rights holders and talent in dealing with the issue.” “Normal People” is far from the first show to experience such an issue, as sex scenes from “Game of Thrones” frequently popped up on porn websites during the show’s run on HBO. While Pornhub quickly removed the “Normal People” compilation, that hasn’t been the case with other porn websites.

Per Variety: “It is accepted practice for producers to engage anti-piracy companies to scan video-sharing platforms that may host copyrighted material, then issue takedown letters to the sites. Most well-known sites comply with the takedown notices although it can take time for the request to be processed.”

“Normal People” is now streaming on Hulu.

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