What infuriated the Ukrainian Minister of Culture in the Netflix series Emily in Paris

Ukraine's Culture Minister has announced that he has protested to Netflix about the way a popular TV character from Emily in Paris is portrayed on the popular platform, according to a report on the BBC website.

The series is about a young American woman, played by Lily Collins, who travels to work in the French capital.

In the last cycle of the series, Petra, a Ukrainian, steals from a store during a trip with the protagonist Emily.

Minister Oleksandr Tachenko called Petra's caricature "offensive".

Petra, played by Ukrainian actress Daria Panchenko, is also presented with bad costume preferences and as a foreigner who is afraid of being deported.

"In Emily in Paris we have a caricature of a Ukrainian woman, which is unacceptable. It is also offensive. "Is that how they see Ukrainians abroad?" The minister wrote in the Telegram.

According to Ukrainian media, the minister sent a letter to the platform protesting the way Petra is presented.

In fact, a Ukrainian resident of the French capital agreed with him.

"The way you portrayed the Ukrainians in the second cycle of the series, in the 4th episode, is such a cheap trick, an absolute scandal and a shame," Yevgenia Havrilko wrote on Instagram and received 75.000 likes.

Others defended the series, such as Ukrainian filmmaker Natalka Yakimovich, who said: "So in a TV series, negative characters can come from anywhere but Ukraine? "Obviously we would all like to be from Moscow but you do not always get what you want."

However, this is not the first time the series has been criticized for the way in which different nationalities are portrayed.

When the first round aired, it received negative reviews - especially in France - for promoting stereotypical images of the city and its inhabitants.

The series presents the French as rude people who wear berets and are often unfaithful to their comrades.

In the new circle among the protagonists is Alfie, a stereotypical British character, who spends his time watching football and drinking in pubs.

Darren Starr, the creator of the series, had previously defended the series, saying that "he does not regret depicting Paris through bright lenses".

He said he relied on his personal experiences from his visit to the city.

"I wanted to present Paris in a really beautiful way that would encourage people to fall in love with the city the way I fell in love with it," she told the New York Times.

RES-EAP