THE BOSSES of BBC drama Normal People were forced to issue a takedown notice to an adult website after a compilation of sex scenes from the show appeared on the site.
The producers of the show, which has smashed records with its incredible popularity since first airing last month, fired a warning shot at adult website Pornhub after a user created a 22-minute-long compilation of sex scenes within the show.
It is estimated that there are about 44 minutes worth of steamy scenes in the 12-part series, but they are meant to illustrate love, consent and compassion-- not pornography.
Entertainment outlet Variety revealed that the show's producers had ordered the adult site to remove the video-- which also technically counts as piracy due to the copyrighted material-- but while Pornhub complied, the video remains on other sites.
The show, which revolves around a relationship, is estimated to have 44 minutes worth of love scenes (Normal People / BBC)Ed Guiney, executive producer of Normal People, told Variety that they were "hugely disappointed" that clips from the beloved show were used in that way.
He continued, "It's both a violation of copyright and more importantly, it’s deeply disrespectful to the actors involved and to the wider creative team.”
A spokesperson for Pornhub confirmed to the outlet that the video had been removed, saying they are "fully compliant with the law" and "respect all copyright requests".
Normal People, like all TV shows and films in this day and age, are struggling with keeping their show from being pirated or illegally streamed online.
Despite this, though, the show has smashed records on both RTÉ Player and BBC iPlayer: almost one fifth of the entire Irish population have watched the show on RTÉ, and it was requested over 16 million times in just one week on BBC.
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