‘Adolescence’ Writer Jack Thorne Rejects ‘Absurd’ Race-Swap Theory Amplified by Elon Musk: ‘We’re Not Making a Point About Race’ but ‘About Masculinity’

variety.com:

Alex Ritman Jack Thorne — who co-wrote Netflix phenomenon “Adolescence” with Stephen Graham — has rejected claims that the show was based on a real-life crime committed by a Black child, a theory that had been amplified by Elon Musk on social media.

The four-part drama, directed by Philip Barantini and starring Graham, Ashley Walters and Erin Doherty, revolves around the brutal murder of a young girl by a 13-year-old schoolboy (played by Owen Cooper).

Since it’s release, its creators have insisted that story was inspired by incidents around the U.K., but not based on an individual crime.

Yet a post on X asserted that “Adolescence” was based on a “real-life case such as the Southport murderer” and that, in making the perpetrator white, it amounted to “anti-white propaganda.” Musk, in his usual style, didn’t overtly agree with the accusation but promoted it to a far wider audience by commenting, “Wow.” Asked about the accusations of race-swapping on “The News Agents” podcast over the weekend, Thorne said that “nothing could be further from the truth.” Thorne added that having “told a lot of real-life stories in my time,” he knew the harm that could come from taking “elements of a real-life style and putting it on screen.” However, he asserted: “There is no part of this that’s based on a true story, not one single part.” He said: “It’s absurd to say that [knife crime] is only committed by Black boys.