Zendaya shares heartfelt message on Euphoria's Rue
"I care about her deeply. I also care about the people who care about her."
Since its return to TV, Euphoria is already one of the biggest shows of the year. Although the HBO series was recently given the green light for a third season, due to its controversial content, several organizations have criticized the program for its "excessive glamorization" of drug use. Among them, Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) says it believes the program encourages destructive behavior, however, Zendaya, the show's lead actress and executive producer, has come to its defense.
In a statement, the anti-drug organization said, "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.”
Of course, the criticism was not well received by the cast of the series and, as a result, Zendaya took to her Instagram account to show her 120 million followers an excerpt from her interview with Entertainment Weekly on the subject. She told the publication, "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. And maybe feel like they're not the only one going through or dealing with what they're dealing with."
