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Many people are blaming the upcoming film Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile for causing the widespread sexualization of Bundy.

Some fans are saying that choosing Hollywood hunk Zac Efron to play the role of Bundy is problematic, as it makes light of his crimes and glamorizes murder.

However, Kathy Kleiner Rubin, a real-life survivor of a Ted Bundy attack, believes Efron is the perfect embodiment of Bundy for the film.

zac efron as ted bundy
photo: Voltage Pictures

In an interview, Kleiner Rubin explained that not everyone is as they seem and that's kind of the point. "I don’t have a problem with people looking at it, as long as they understand that what they’re watching wasn’t a normal person," she said.

She said it's important to show him as he really was: a seemingly normal, good-looking man on the outside and a monster on the inside.

zac efron as ted bundy
photo: Voltage Pictures

"I believe that in order to show him exactly the way it was, it's not really glorifying him, but it's showing him. And when they do say positive and wonderful things about him, that's who they saw. That's who Bundy wanted you to see," Kleiner Rubin elaborated.

Apparently serial killer–related content is popping off on Netflix lately, with the Lifetime turned Netflix series You causing a similar debate among people on social media.

In it, Penn Badgley plays Joe Goldberg, a murderous stalker, and an alarming number of people are swooning over his character in spite of his crimes.

Badgley himself had to remind thirsty fans that his character is not meant to be romanticized.

He casually pointed out to one Twitter user that the guy she was swooning over is, in fact, a murderer. But he totally gets why people feel conflicted.

Badgley summed up why people tend to ignore all the terrible things his character, Joe, has done and still romanticize him. And the point hits home for those romanticizing Ted Bundy as well.

"If anyone other than a young white man were to behave like these characters behave, nobody’s having it," he explained to the New York Times. "To me, Joe is this work in progress in dismantling and dissecting the myriad privileges that a young, attractive, white man carries with him. I’m not suggesting that the rest of the world shouldn’t have these so-called privileges. But I think when only one group has them, it’s actually a horrific blindness when it comes to being in touch with humanity."