Over the weekend, the Washington Post was slammed for posting a bizarre positive review of a “play about pedophiles” that critics claim strives to normalize pedophilia.
The article was written by Washington Post top theater critic Peter Marks. “The play ‘Downstate’ is about pedophiles. It’s also fantastic” sparked outrage on Sunday when it was reposted to the paper’s Twitter account.
The drama is about four sexual predators who live in a group home together, Marks went on to praise the play in his review as ‘brilliant.’
Marks continued in his review, which seemed to endorse the play’s attempt to normalize the sexual abuse of children, writing that,”the predators who’ve completed their prison terms are depicted not as monsters but rather as complicated, troubled souls.”
“Some theatergoers no doubt will resent that Norris chose to illuminate this delicate subject in a nuanced way that doesn’t jibe with their own undiluted revulsion. If you suspect you are one of these people, ‘Downstate’ is not for you. For many others, it will be a stunning demonstration of the power of narrative art to tackle a taboo, to compel us to look at a controversial topic from novel perspectives,” Marks continued.
Conservative commentators on social media were quick to hammer the post for what appeared to be its soft pedaling of child abuse:
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