‘13 Reasons Why’ Photo Of Jessica, Justin Deleted After Fans Claim Series Patronized Toxic Relationships

“13 Reasons Why” recently faced another backlash for allegedly patronizing toxic relationships.

On July 10, a photo of Jessica (Alisha Boe) and Justin (Brandon Flynn) from one of the scenes from the Netflix series was uploaded the show’s official Twitter account. The hashtag “always” was used a very short caption for the snap. Fans of the series immediately questioned why such a hashtag was used for the post. After all, Jessica and Brandon’s relationship was a very controversial one.

Read: Why was “13 Reasons Why” snubbed at this year’s Emmy Awards?

In Season 1, Jessica was raped by Brandon’s best friend, Bryce (Justin Prentice). Brandon knew about it, but he didn’t do anything to implicate his best friend. In fact, Bryce made it seem as though Justin owed him his life since he allowed him to live in their house when he eloped due to his mom’s abusive boyfriend.

Additionally, Brandon knew about Jessica’s alcohol problem. There were multiple instances in the series that Brandon saw Jessica drinking in school. She was also wasted in some of the scenes from select episodes. Unfortunately, Brandon did not do anything that would encourage Jessica to quit drinking for good.

According to Refinery 29, romanticizing Jessica and Justin’s relationship is “deeply disturbing.” Immediately after the backlash, the controversial photo was deleted from the “13 Reasons Why” Twitter account.

Meanwhile, this is not the first time that the series was involved in a similar issue. Following the release of all 13 episodes, there were statements suggesting that “13 Reasons Why” also glamorized abuse and suicide. In April, series writer Nic Sheff explained to The Hollywood Reporter why they decided to feature Hannah Baker’s (Katherine Langford) actual suicide.

“It overwhelmingly seems to me that the most irresponsible thing we couldn’t done would have been not to show the death at all. In AA, they call it playing the tape: encouraging alcoholics to really think through in detail the exact sequence of events that will occur after relapse. It’s the same thing with suicide. To play the tape through is to see the ultimate reality that suicide is not a relief at all – it’s a screaming, agonizing horror,” he said.

“13 Reasons Why” has been renewed by Netflix for Season 2.