According to The Hollywood Reporter on May 18, Netflix canceled Friday's scheduled release of the premiere of the second season of "13 Reasons Why," a series that focuses on teen suicide, after a shooting occurred in a Texas high school. The Hollywood Reporter indicated the choice to cancel the launch may have involved the second season's partial focus on a thwarted school shooting. Netflix issued a statement expressing heartfelt sorrow for the victims of the Texas shooting, along with the victims of all gun violence, and stated that the entertainment company would out of respect halt the release of the second season premiere of "13 Reasons Why" due to the tragic events in Texas.

But Netflix did release the second season premiere

As it happens, on Friday the second season of "13 Reasons Why" prominently displayed among selections of entertainment. There had also been a shift in the news. Netflix had not canceled the online release of the second season premiere of "13 Reasons Why," as previously reported, but had, according to CBS News, merely canceled the premiere party. In a macabre manner, the school shooting became a kind of intentional or unintentional way of promoting the second season release by first apparently canceling the premiere, but then releasing it anyway while only canceling the premiere party. The series has gotten flak for sensationalizing teen suicide and violence, but in Texas, the tragedy is all too real.

The dead in the Texas shooting are mostly students

According to the BBC, police have reported that most of the dead are students of the high school. The shooter opened fire in an art class, planted explosives around the school, and planned to commit suicide at the end of the rampage but changed his mind at the last minute, after leaving 10 victims deceased and 10 injured.

The alleged shooter is now in police custody and is said to be a 17-year-old student of the same high school. The alleged perpetrator of this school shooting used weapons legally owned by his father to carry out his plans for a massacre. The shooter's motives may be similar to those that will emerge as the motive's of the fictional shooter in "13 Reasons Why."

"13 Reasons Why" highlights the violence students do to students under adult supervision.

Despite Netflix's perhaps questionable promotional strategies regarding "13 Reasons Why," the real school shooting in Texas underscores the critically important and highly relevant message of the series, that the underlying cruelty and isolation of high school culture can lead to violence, self-inflicted, or inflicted on others. Perhaps a delay in the release of the actual premiere of the series would have shown greater good faith by Netflix in the public interest. But now we get to watch the show and see if it is worth the 13 hours of commitment and if it sensationalizes teen violence or is aimed to curb it.
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