1. In the month since its release, Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why has been highly debated, both praised and criticized for its portrayal of high schoolers grappling with suicide and rape.
The series tells the story of high schooler Hannah Baker who kills herself after being bullied, harassed, and sexually assaulted. She also witnesses a classmate get sexually assaulted by her same perpetrator.
2. The series is rated TV-MA for mature audiences, and the episodes that explicitly depict rape and suicide — Episodes 9 (“Tape 7, Side A”) and 13 (“Tape 5, Side A”) — include warnings before they begin streaming.
4. A lot of viewers have expressed a desire for the series to have more trigger warnings.
5. And BuzzFeed News has exclusively learned that Netflix is updating the warnings that already exist, as well as including an additional warning about the whole series before the first episode.
6. “While many of our members find the show to be a valuable driver for starting important conversation with their families, we have also heard concern from those who feel the series should carry additional advisories,” Netflix said in a statement.
7. “We will add an additional viewer warning card before the first episode as an extra precaution for those about to start the series and have also strengthened the messaging and resource language in the existing cards for episodes that contain graphic subject matter.”
8. A spokesperson for Netflix said these changes will go into effect as early as this week.
9. Here’s Netflix’s full statement:
There has been a tremendous amount of discussion about our series 13 Reasons Why. While many of our members find the show to be a valuable driver for starting important conversation with their families, we have also heard concern from those who feel the series should carry additional advisories. Currently the episodes that carry graphic content are identified as such and the series overall carries a TV-MA rating. Moving forward, we will add an additional viewer warning card before the first episode as an extra precaution for those about to start the series and have also strengthened the messaging and resource language in the existing cards for episodes that contain graphic subject matter, including the URL 13ReasonsWhy.info — a global resource center that provides information about professional organizations that support help around the serious matters addressed in the show.
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