- Netflix has been ordered to remove a sex scene depicting a Spanish drug trafficker, The Times of London reported.
- Laureano Ubiña said he was portrayed as a violent and impotent character in the crime drama “Cocaine Coast.”
- Ubiña also claimed the show had caused him “psychological damage.”
A Spanish drug smuggler has sued Netflix, forcing the company to remove a sex scene from the hit series.
Last year, Laureano Ubiña filed a lawsuit against Netflix seeking 1.5 million euros ($1.6 million) in damages, claiming he suffered “moral damage” as a result of his disgraceful portrayal in the TV series “Cocaine Coast” (“Fariña”), The Times of London reported.
Netflix was ordered to pay 15,000 euros ($16,200) to Ubiña, 78, for violating his privacy and was also forced to cut a “sexually explicit” scene which appeared at the beginning of the show’s first episode.
According to The Times of London, the court ruled that the scene was unnecessary and designed purely to “immerse the viewer in the story.”
Ubiña’s lawyer, Jorge Palladino, was quoted as saying in 2023 that Ubiña’s life had “become much worse” since the series began airing because he was portrayed as “someone capable of taking the lives of others” and as “violent, sexist, a cocaine trafficker, impotent, cruel, unfaithful, a bad father, a bad husband, rough, stupid, vengeful, abusive to women, ignorant and a mafia.”
Ubiña was also outraged by a scene that depicted him being unable to have sex with his wife during a conjugal prison visit.
However, the court dismissed the other claims.
The ruling can be appealed, the report said.
A representative for Netflix did not respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.
“Cocaine Coast” tells the story of a young fisherman turned cocaine smuggler in Galicia, northwest Spain, in the 1980s.
This show is currently not available in the United States.
Ubiña’s lawsuit is just one of many that Netflix has faced after dramatizing true events.
Last month, Fiona Harvey, who claims the character Martha in the hit TV show “Baby Reindeer” was based on her, filed a lawsuit against Netflix, seeking more than $170 million in damages.
She claims the show ruined her reputation because the streamer did a poor job of concealing her identity.
A Netflix spokesperson told BI that the company plans to “vigorously defend this issue and Richard Gadd’s right to tell his story.”
The estate of Colombian drug queen Griselda Blanco also filed a lawsuit against Netflix earlier this year, seeking to block the streaming of the show “Griselda.”
The company claimed that the streamer used the family’s images and likenesses without proper permission.
The lawsuit was settled in February.
Disclosure: Mathias Döpfner, CEO of Business Insider’s parent company, Axel Springer, is a member of the Netflix board of directors.
