‘Normal People’ Sex Scenes Removed from Pornhub After Producers Issue Takedown Request

The sex scenes in Hulu’s Normal People are so steamy, even Pornhub users want to check them out. This week, producers on the Hulu/BBC drama issued a takedown order after a 22-minute compilation of Normal People sex scenes surfaced on Pornhub. The adult film site has since deleted the video, but according to Variety, the illegal compilation is still available to stream on other porn sites.

Since Normal People first hit Hulu on April 29, viewers have been captivated by its emotional, raw sex scenes — Pornhub viewers included. Variety reports that a 22-minute compilation video of the show’s most intimate moments first appeared on Pornhub last week, and producers quickly filed a takedown request. The popular video-sharing site complied, but that hasn’t stopped users from posting Normal People scenes elsewhere, including Pornhub competitor XVideos.

“We’re hugely disappointed that excerpts from the series of Normal People have been used in this way,” executive producer Ed Guiney told Variety. “It’s both a violation of copyright and more importantly, it’s deeply disrespectful to the actors involved and to the wider creative team … We have taken appropriate steps to require that the content be removed from the platform with immediate effect.”

Pornhub vice president Corey Price added that Pornhub has removed the 22-minute compilation from its site. “Pornhub is fully compliant with the law,” he said. “We respect all copyright requests and as soon as we become aware of the existence of these types of videos on our site, we have them removed.”

While it’s fairly common for shows to see their intimate moments uploaded on porn sites (this happened throughout Game of Thrones‘ eight-season run), it’s particularly disappointing to see it happen with a show like Normal People. The Hulu/BBC drama worked with an intimacy coordinator to ensure that leads Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal were comfortable, and they went to great lengths to convey the emotionality of each sex scene.

“The center of the scene was the emotional intimacy between them,” Mescal told Decider’s Lea Palmieri of working with intimacy coordinator Ita O’Brien. “Ultimately I think that liberates us as actors, that we don’t feel self-conscious, we’ve discussed it and we feel safe and comfortable, and I think it allows the scenes to be quite powerful and moving.”

“You are able to only do something if you feel it’s important to the story and it’s the right thing to be doing,” added Edgar-Jones. “[The sex scenes are] so important to the story and so important to the book, it was really important to do them justice in the series and for them to be honest. They’re always furthering a narrative so Ita created an environment that meant all Paul and I had to worry about was what that story beat was rather than physical choreography.”

Normal People is now streaming on Hulu.

Where to stream Normal People