Netflix viewers are outraged by one moment in Scoop. They're mad about the wrong scene.

Proving our appetite for royal scandals will simply never be satisfied, Scoop on Netflix has viewers hooked.

The film, starring Gillian Anderson, Billie Piper and Rufus Sewell, relays the BBC's infamous Newsnight interview with Prince Andrew that saw journalist Emily Maitlis press the royal on his longstanding friendship with convicted sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein.

But while most of us can remember this notorious interview moment, widely considered as the most damaging PR stunt in the British royal family's history, some viewers want to forget one particular scene in Scoop. 

And I find the criticism... rather annoying. 

So let's backtrack to the scene in question. After Prince Andrew (Sewell) films the Newsnight interview, he rather rudely rejected his private secretary's invitation to watch it with him. 

Instead, he watches the interview alone in his bathtub.

As soon as the episode ends, Andrew's phone starts pinging nonstop, suggesting that the royal is getting all kinds of messages about how disastrously he came across on the BBC.

Watch the trailer for Scoop. Post continues after video.

Perhaps he even got a message from Mummy, aka the Queen, who would announce his stepping down from royal duties in the following days.

Anyways, back to the scene. As he stares at his phone, sad and alone in his room, the camera pans away to show his naked body from behind, bare bum and all. The camera focuses on the Prince for a painfully long time.

(It's worth noting that these were not actually Rufus Sewell's buttocks, as the actor later revealed a fake bum was "specially shipped in" for the scene. "It’s not that I’m ashamed of my own. I get it out whenever I get the chance," he told Radio Times. "But this bum was specially shipped in.")

Real or fake, though, people weren't thrilled with the scene.

Viewers were quick to react negatively on X (formerly Twitter). “Was it really necessary for me to see Prince Andrew's bare a** cheeks?!” one wrote.

"The shot of Prince Andrew's a** was a bit unnecessary," posted another.

The shot of Prince Andrew’s bum in #Scoop #ScoopNetflix #PrinceAndrew pic.twitter.com/X1iCqg4IYF

— Mark A. Thomson (@MarkAlanThomson) April 7, 2024

I get it. It was an awkward scene to endure. But is this the hill we want to die on? That a man who remained friends with Epstein, even after he was convicted and served 18 months for soliciting minors for prostitution, doesn't deserve the indignity of such a shot?

This is the same man accused of groping one woman's breast and having sex with an underage Virginia Giuffre, to whom he has since paid a settlement in a sexual assault lawsuit.

For a film that I'd argue doesn't platform the perspective of victims enough, this scene, for me, was the saving grace of the entire movie. This man has lied, this man has been exposed, and here he stands, naked in a darkened room, alone and with a dripping wet butt.

Do you know which scene is much worse? The moment Prince Andrew scolds a woman for arranging his teddy bear collection incorrectly. Now THIS scene made me mad.

In the shot, Prince Andrew shouts at a palace maid (played by Mia Threapleton, aka the daughter of Kate Winslet??) for leaving one of his beloved teddy bears in the wrong place. The moment plays out after Andrew watches a newsreader list Epstein's history of sexual crimes.

Andrew turns to his maid and angrily asks, "How many times?" before he patronises her about the correct location of his stuffed kangaroo.

Prince Andrew and his teddy collection. Image: Netflix. 

The scene stands out because it shows a rare glimpse of what Prince Andrew's temperament is perhaps like, away from his royal duties and public persona. And it's especially disturbing because this moment is based on an actual claim from the royal's former maid.

In 2022, former Buckingham Palace maid Charlotte Briggs told The Sun about Andrew’s obsession with his teddy bears. She claimed that when she worked with the royal in the '90s, he had 72 stuffed animals and she had to do a day's training on how to correctly arrange them. Nope, not kidding.

"It was so odd. After all, he was a grown man who had served in the Falklands. But he absolutely loved the teddies and was very clear about how he wanted them arranged," she said.

"Then at bedtime, I had to take all the teddies off and arrange them around the room. They each had a set place. We had to stack the smaller ones in an unused fireplace, again in size order, to make them look pretty."

This is not just icky; it also highlights the contradictory nature of the disgraced royal. 

Prince Andrew, then a 59-year-old man, was this particular about the arrangement of his teddy collection — yet doesn't hold the same regard for staying friends with men who have served time for soliciting underage women.

I'd say this something worth getting mad about, rather than an actor's wet prosthetic bum.

Feature image: Netflix.