'UNACCEPTABLE AND OFFENSIVE'

Politician Rips Into Netflix’s ‘Emily in Paris’ Over ‘Caricature’ Portrayal of Thieving Ukrainian Woman

Ukraine’s Minister of Culture took offense at a plotline of the Netflix show where Emily goes shopping with a Ukrainian classmate, who steals from a clothing store.

Emily in Paris has earned itself a new hater, this time from a top Ukrainian diplomat who ripped into the hit Netflix show for its “caricature” portrayal of a thieving Ukrainian woman, calling it “unacceptable and offensive.” “In the 1990s and 2000s, Ukrainian guys were portrayed mainly as gangsters. Over time this has changed, however, not in this case,” Oleksandr Tkachenko, who serves as the country’s culture minister wrote in a Telegram post, reported The Mirror. “Is this how Ukrainians will be seen abroad? Who steal, want to get everything for free, [and] be afraid of deportation? This should not be so.” Tkachenko took offense at a plotline in the second season’s fourth episode where titular character Emily (played by Lily Collins) goes shopping with Petra, her French language class partner from Kyiv, who later tries to persuade Emily to run off with a wardrobe's worth of expensive clothes without paying. Tkachenko indicated in his post that he had reached out to Netflix over his disgust with the portrayal, writing that the streaming giant had “thanked me for the feedback.” “We agreed that in 2022, we will be in close contact to prevent such cases,” he added. “Such an active public position will help ensure the attitude of Ukrainians is taken into account in future filming.”