Primetime Normalizes Pedophilia by Humanizing Predators and Vilifying Their Pursuer
Source: Brooke Brandtjen. "'Primetime' Is Hollywood’s Attempt To Normalize Pedophilia." October 1, 2026. thefederalist.com
The Gist
The author argues that the new movie Primetime is dangerous because it makes child predators look sympathetic while making Chris Hansen, who caught them on 'To Catch a Predator,' look like the villain. She says this reflects a troubling cultural shift where Hollywood is using clever filmmaking to blur the line between right and wrong when it comes to child abuse.
Conclusion
A24's film Primetime is Hollywood's attempt to normalize the disordered evils of pedophilia by portraying child predators sympathetically while vilifying the man who exposed them.
Premises
- The film shifts focus away from pedophiles' culpability and instead frames Chris Hansen's pursuit of justice as a morally grey, fame-driven crusade.
- Visual and narrative techniques (dim lighting, ominous framing) are used to make Hansen appear sinister while law enforcement is portrayed as incompetent and NBC as a villainous corporation.
- The film humanizes pedophile characters, such as Bill Conradt, by softening their image with sympathetic personal details and showing them wrestling with guilt, implying they are victims rather than culprits.
- The film creates a false moral equivalence between Hansen's adultery and the predators' pedophilia by altering the timeline of his cheating scandal to coincide with Conradt's suicide.
- Real-world audience reactions at screenings (sighing at arrests, laughing at predators' vile messages) and online content attacking Hansen demonstrate the film is successfully shifting public sympathy toward predators and away from their captor.
- Chris Hansen, the real person depicted, was not consulted, refused to sign away his rights, and has publicly objected to how he is portrayed, suggesting the portrayal is an unfair and deliberate distortion.
Assumptions
- Depicting morally complex or sympathetic portrayals of perpetrators in fiction necessarily constitutes 'normalizing' their crimes rather than exploring human psychology or critiquing media ethics.
- Audience emotional reactions (laughing, sighing) during a screening reliably indicate a shift in broader societal moral views rather than isolated or performative reactions.
- Hollywood's narrative choices reflect and shape cultural values in a direct, causal way.
- There is no legitimate artistic or journalistic purpose in critiquing Chris Hansen's methods or the ethics of 'To Catch a Predator'-style journalism.
- The film's intent, not just its effect, is to make audiences sympathetic to pedophiles rather than, for instance, to critique sensationalist media or examine tragic human failure.