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Whether it’s for the show’s star-studded cast, or its deep-cut references to Beyoncé and the Bey hive, Swarm viewers have been stirring the discourse pot. But they’re not getting too hung up on the show’s creepy approach to horror and pop stardom. Instead, Swarm‘s biggest controversy so far is a steamy sex scene from the pilot episode.
In the sex scene between actors Chloe Bailey and Damson Idris, their characters Marissa and Khalid don’t realize they’re being watched by Marissa’s younger sister Dre. When Khalid catches Dre (Dominique Fishback) watching them from the hallway, he just continues having sex with Marissa until she walks away.
It sparked a weekend-long discussion across Twitter about whether sex scenes like this are really necessary in shows and movies. Some thought it was an unexpectedly graphic scene for Bailey, while others even questioned if the two actors were really acting at all.
“Saying anything disparaging towards Chloe Bailey doing a sex scene & not anything towards Damson Idris for doing the sex scene WITH HER screams of misogyny,” one person tweeted.
Others, however, felt that it was a rather innocuous scene.
“I do not understand why the sex scene is even a discussion,” someone else tweeted. “I thought Twitter would have an issue with Dre watching without consent but instead it’s ‘TV shows should not have sex in them at all.’”
Bailey talked about filming the Swarm scene in an interview earlier this month, where she said Idris helped her feel more comfortable.
“As open and liberal as I am about my body, I was very scared because I haven’t had that many partners,” she said. “Damson made it really comfortable; you know, there were limited people on set. It was a closed set.”
“We literally had a bouncy ball in between us, and you know, we were making a joke out of it, so it took all of the nervousness away from that,” she said. “I have to give a lot of kudos to him as a man for making me, as a woman, feel comfortable literally being raw and naked.”
Swarm is co-created and executive produced by Janine Nabers and Donald Glover. According to its Prime Video logline, the series follows “an obsessed fan of the world’s biggest pop star who sets off on an unexpected cross-country journey.”
The entire first season of Swarm is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
