Elon Musk's 'anti-white' comments on Netflix's Adolescence slammed by creator

Adolescence co-creator Jack Thorne has denounced the theory boosted by Elon Musk that the Netflix series was based on a real crime committed by a Black child.

In the four-part drama, viewers see 13-year-old schoolboy Jamie Miller (Owen Cooper), arrested for the brutal murder of a young girl and the events that happen during and after he's detained, with each episode being shot in one take.

On Musk's platform X, formerly Twitter, a post was shared last week which claimed “Adolescence” was based on a “real-life case such as the Southport murderer” and in this instance the perpetrator was Black while the protagonist in the Netflix show is white and said this amounted to “anti-white propaganda."

Musk himself drew further attention to the conspiracy theory by commenting, "Wow" in response to the post.

When Thorne - who created the show with actor Stephen Graham - appeared on The News Agents podcast, he was asked about the theory, to which he said: “They’ve claimed that Stephen and I based it on a story, and another story, so we race-swapped because we were basing it on here and it ended up there, and everything else. Nothing is further from the truth.”

He added: “I have told a lot of real-life stories in my time, and I know the harm that can come when you take elements of a real-life story and put it on screen, and the people aren’t expecting it. There is no part of this that's based on a true story, not one single part.”

After this, host Jon Sopel questioned Thorne on the criticism the show has received online.

To which Thorne responded, referring to the conspiracy theory: “That it should have been a Black boy? It's absurd to say that [knife crime] is only committed by Black boys. It’s absurd. It's not true. And history shows a lot of cases of kids from all races committing these crimes.

"We're not making a point about race with this. We are making a point about masculinity. We’re trying to get inside a problem. We’re not saying this is one thing or another, we’re saying that this is about boys."

Meanwhile, Netflix is making its acclaimed four-part series Adolescence available to all secondary schools across the UK via Into Film+.

In partnership with the healthy relationships charity Tender, comprehensive guides and resources will be provided for teachers, parents, and carers to support meaningful conversations around the series' key themes.

Elsewhere, Netflix's hit Adolescence series will be shown in schools for this important reason, and Ashley Walters 'in tears' after messing up this Adolescence take.

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