Lucifer-loving musical cartoon Hazbin Hotel premiered on Amazon Prime on Friday, January 19th, and the devil himself could not have created a more despicable show.
Overturning the creation story from Genesis, the first episode, "Overture," begins with an introduction that describes Satan as a "rebellious dreamer" who just wanted to give human beings free will. Heaven, in contrast, is heartless and cruel.
The intro combines radical feminism and demon-worship in a two-minute clip.
You may have already heard of this cartoon if you are a teacher or parent who interacts with middle schoolers. Hazbin Hotel is based off a popular independent pilot that premiered on YouTube in 2019. The pilot has received 93 million views and spawned a devoted young fan base. Its proudly bisexual creator, Vivienne Medrano, known as VivziePop online, has a large following. Pre-teen girls walk around with Hazbin Hotel backpacks and stickers on their laptops while sharing the show's fan art.
After the pilot's success, studio A24 signed-on to produce a full 8-part series, the first four episodes of which were released on Friday. The show is rated 18+ so hopefully alert parents prevent their eager kids from streaming it. The episodes contain graphic sexual lingo, references to BDSM, and a disturbing musical number in which a porn star is gang raped, chained and choked, among other things. That musical number caps off four episodes of relentless vulgar sexual references and language. The main character's lesbian girlfriend is even named "Vaggie." Not exactly subtle.
The first episode, "Overture," introduces Charlie Morningstar, the daughter of Lucifer and Lillith. Charlie wants to create a hotel where sinners and demons can redeem themselves and go to heaven. The brutal rulers of Heaven exterminate residents of Hell every year, but Charlie hopes to save them instead. In this occult universe, redemption comes from the perky spawn of Satan.
Charlie goes to a special meeting with heaven's Adam to tell him her idea. On her way there, she walks down the street singing "A Happy Day in Hell" and casually passes by two creatures having anal sex.
Adam mocks her plan and announces Heaven will now be slaughtering the inhabitants of Hell every six months instead of just once a year.
The rest of the plot is just an incoherent mess, with dialogue punctuated constantly by words like "c*nt," "f*ck" or "suck."
The worst moment comes at the end of episode four, "Masquerade." A gay porn star named Angel Dust, who has been staying at Charlie's hotel, is beaten and forced back to "work" by his boss. In a musical number titled "Poison," Angel Dust looks up in fear as he is about to be raped by multiple creatures. He is also shown going down a stripper poll, being choked and chained.
If any tween fans of Hazbin Hotel view this scene without their parent's knowledge, it could be deeply unsettling. Parents must be vigilant.
The problem is that so much of Hazbin Hotel's fan marketing feels like it is geared towards younger audiences. This may be because the creator herself, who often comes across as immature, is fine with kids viewing adult animation.
"I’ve always been really, really influenced by adult comedy. I saw South Park at very young age and I was like, 'Oh my gosh, swearing is so fun.' It really just changed the entire trajectory of my career," she told Gizmodo.
A second season has already been ordered for this toxic cartoon. It's hard to imagine how much worse future episodes could get.
