It's hard to say that Big Mouth goes too far, because its whole raison d'être is to push boundaries in the name of sex positivity. Yes, it's an animated show about middle schoolers exploring their sexuality, but it's also frank and honest about sexuality in a constructive way. There was, however, one time they missed the mark and had to apologize.
Season 3 saw the introduction of Ali, a pansexual girl played by Ali Wong. When asked to explain the difference between bisexuality and pansexuality, she said that "being pansexual means my sexual preference isn't limited by gender identity." She elaborated that while bisexuals like "tacos" or "burritos," pansexuals "could be into a taco that was born a burrito, or a burrito that is transitioning into a taco."
This scene was shared on @NetflixIsAJoke, Netflix's comedy account. It almost immediately caused controversy, as reported by ET Canada. Sexuality and labels are a complicated topic, but many pointed out that saying bisexual people don't date transgender people is inaccurate and irresponsible.
Big Mouth co-creator Andrew Goldberg took to Twitter and offered an apology on behalf of the show. "We missed the mark here with this definition of bisexuality and pansexuality," he said, "and my fellow creators and I sincerely apologize for making people feel misrepresented." He acknowledged that, while defining sexuality is challenging, they could have done better. He thanked everyone for speaking up and said they'd address it in future seasons. @NetflixIsAJoke deleted their tweet as well.
