Posted in: HBO, Preview, Trailer, TV | Tagged: euphoria, HBO, preview, season 2, trailer, zendaya

Euphoria Star Zendaya to D.A.R.E: "Our Show Is In No Way A Moral Tale"

Near the end of last month, the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) organization reappeared on the national stage in a big way by calling out HBO's Euphoria. While many are praising the Zendaya-starring series for its realistic storytelling and depth of characters, the drug prevention organization believes that the award-winning series (according to their statement below) "chooses to misguidedly glorify and erroneously depict high school student drug use, addiction, anonymous sex, violence, and other destructive behaviors as common and widespread in today's world." Now coming off of a powerfully intense, scorched earth fifth episode ("Stand Still Like the Hummingbird"), the series star was asked about D.A.R.E.'s accusations.

"Our show is in no way a moral tale to teach people how to live their life or what they should be doing. If anything, the feeling behind 'Euphoria,' or whatever we have always been trying to do with it, is to hopefully help people feel a little bit less alone in their experience and their pain," Zendaya responded. "And maybe feel like they're not the only one going through or dealing with what they're dealing with." And as fans have been doing so far, Zendaya feels its important for viewers to stay with Rue through her journey- even during its lowest points as we just saw. "We can't leave her here. It's really important that there's light at the end of the tunnel for her because I think she has a lot of beauty inside of her. Whether or not she quite sees that yet, is her own thing." To that end, the actress says "my biggest hope is that people are able to connect to it and those who need to heal and grow with Rue hopefully, by the end of this season, feel that hope and feel that change in her." And to that end, Zendaya has seen some positive momentum, adding, "I've had a lot of people reach out and find so many parallels from all ages, all walks of life. So many parallels with Rue and her story and Rue means a lot to them in a way that I can understand, but also maybe in a way that I could never understand, and that means the most to all of us."

"Rather than further each parent's desire to keep their children safe from the potentially horrific consequences of drug abuse and other high-risk behavior, HBO's television drama 'Euphoria' chooses to misguidedly glorify and erroneously depict high school student drug use, addiction, anonymous sex, violence, and other destructive behaviors as common and widespread in today's world. It is unfortunate that HBO, social media, television program reviewers, and paid advertising have chosen to refer to the show as 'groundbreaking,' rather than recognizing the potential negative consequences on school-age children who today face unparalleled risks and mental health challenges," said a D.A.R.E. representative to TMZ near the end of January. It should be noted that trigger warning messages regarding "violence, nudity and sexual content that may be disturbing to viewers" appear before each episode, with information on a crisis text line and an HBO-sponsored resource page (with links to Planned Parenthood, Trevor Project, and others) also made available.

Returning for the second season of Euphoria to join Zendaya are Hunter Schafer, Eric Dane, Angus Cloud, Jacob Elordi, Algee Smith, Sydney Sweeney, Alexa Demie, Barbie Ferreira, Maude Apatow, Javon Walton, Dominic Fike, Storm Reid, and Austin Abrams. Created and written by executive producer Levinson, the award-winning HBO series also has Ravi Nandan, Kevin Turen, Will Greenfield, Drake, Adel "Future" Nur, Zendaya, Hadas Mozes Lichtenstein, Ron Leshem, and Daphna Levin executive producing. Kenneth Yu is set to produce, with Ashley Levinson, Harrison Kreiss & Julio Perez set as co-producers. Produced in partnership with A24 and based on the Israeli series of the same name, which was created by Ron Leshem and Daphna Levin, from HOT.

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