The just-released movie Joker, which topped the box office this past weekend, is under fire for boosting the bank account of pedophile glam rocker Gary Glitter.
Glitter’s 1972 hit “Rock and Roll Part 2” is used in a scene where Joaquin Phoenix dances down a flight of stairs.
“They’re literally paying a pedophile to use his music in a movie about the consequences of child abuse,” tweeted one person. “I’m off the fence – this movie is immoral bulls**t.”
According to UK newspaper The Sun, Glitter will earn “hundreds of thousands” of dollars from Joker. An expert cited by The Guardian guessed that Glitter might earn 30 per cent of the fee to use the song in the movie as well as a cut of publishing royalties.
Sara Payne, an advocate for victims of sexual abuse, tweeted: “I hope people will look to their conscience on this one and join us to #BoycottJoker."
Elsewhere on Twitter, someone commented: “This man should earn nothing from royalties, his music should have been discarded in the depths. Just shows how little research the filmmakers did into the music played in [its] movie.”
One person vowed not to see the movie “until they remove convicted pedophile Gary Glitter's song or donate royalties from it to a child abuse charity.”
The 75-year-old singer, whose real name is Paul Gadd, was sentenced in 2015 to 16 years in prison after being convicted of attempted rape, four counts of indecent assault and one count of having sex with a girl under the age of 13.
He previously served time in his native England for possession of child pornography and was found guilty in Vietnam of having sex with girls aged 10 and 11.
Joker debuted at the top of the weekend box office and has raked in $245.7 million U.S. worldwide in its first three days. The movie initially sparked controversy over its violence and nihilistic story.
“There's a lot of disturbing shit in Joker,” one person tweeted. “Gary Glitter's music being included in the movie maybe made me cringe the most, though.”
Another shared: “I was looking forward to watching the Joker movie, but I’m absolutely disgusted that they have used a Gary Glitter song in the soundtrack. I don’t want any of my money making a paedophile more wealthy.”