A father has hit out at Selena Gomez and the makers of “13 Reasons Why” after his 15-year-old daughter committed suicide on April 18.
John Herndon of California called for the Netflix favourite, which is set to return for a second series, to be cancelled after his young daughter Bella took her own life after binge-watching the hit show. He even called Gomez, who serves as an executive producer, “an extremely disturbed individual.”
“Remember that there are teens out there that are in a little darker place and these could be your friends, your sisters,” Herndon told Radar Online. “Selena Gomez and Netflix need to understand that not everybody’s going to understand this very well. Some people who are battling with depression, this could catch them at the wrong time, creating what is called the trigger event.”
“13 Reasons Why” tells the story of 17-year-old Hannah Baker, who takes her own life after leaving a box of tapes to a set of individuals at her school, whom she claims all played a part in her death.
Herndon went on: “I’m still completely disgusted. Selena makes me sick. She is an extremely disturbed individual to think that this show has any kind of redeeming social value at all.
“They made those decisions to make themselves look like a socially responsible company yet they are making a product about people who are hurt and how they can hurt themselves.”
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Herndon continued to say how Gomez has been vocal about undergoing a “life-saving” kidney transplant, but he claims she hasn’t done nearly enough to help those with mental health issues.
“She has spared no expense rattling her own saber about her kidney transplant. She talked about how painful it was and spent significant effort getting that ‘Oh poor me’ out there. That’s just disgusting.”
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This certainly isn’t the first time such issues have been raised, with “13 Reasons Why” writer Nic Sheff previously releasing an open letter to Vanity Fair.
He explained: “[W]hen it came time to discuss the portrayal of the protagonist’s suicide in ’13 Reasons Why’ I of course immediately flashed on my own experience. It seemed to me the perfect opportunity to show what an actual suicide really looks like – to dispel the myth of the quiet drifting off, and to make viewers face the reality of what happens when you jump from a burning building into something much, much worse.”
ET Canada has contacted reps for Selena Gomez and Netflix, but are yet to hear back.
For help and advice on mental health issues contact the Mental Health Helpline.
