'House of the Dragon' Foot Fetish Scene Draws Strong Reaction From Fans

HBO's House of the Dragon has never shied away from controversial sexual scenes, from graphic moments in a brothel to a prominent incestuous relationship between two of the show's central characters. Sunday night's episode, however, introduced a sexual interest new to the show: Foot fetishism.

Fans of the show responded immediately on social media about an interaction between Larys Strong (Matthew Needham) and Queen Alicent (Olivia Cooke) in episode nine. In the particular scene, a transactional relationship is revealed between the two when Strong shared some important rumors with Alicent in exchange for her showing him her feet. While admiring her feet, Strong masturbated.

"In a show full of incest, a foot fetish is apparently where I draw the line #hotd," one Twitter user @onetruebrennan wrote about the moment.

Meanwhile, comedian Andrew Schulz tweeted: "House Of The Dragon did a great disservice to the foot appreciation community."

Throughout the first season of HBO's hit spin-off of Game of Thrones, Alicent has relied heavily on the gossip and conniving plans of Strong, who is known as "Larys the Clubfoot" due to a foot abnormality. Many people who took to Twitter to discuss the foot fetish scene expressed dismay that Strong was attached to the kink given his physical condition. Some even accused the show's creators of ableism.

"Having thought on it, Larys' sexual proclivities are problematic for more than just murder attempts. A person with a deformed foot gets off on regular feet? That seems ableist," Twitter use @marie_ghost tweeted.

"Also, sorry, but this episode reads a bit ableist. Why are you zooming in on his disability and then giving him a fetish related to that?" asked @laviederose_.

Despite a negative reaction from many people, the inclusion of a foot fetish scene was nonetheless defended by some social media users. Several of these people said that sexual interest in feet is among the most common fetishes.

Research backs up such claims. Dr. Justin Lehmiller, a social psychologist and research fellow at the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University, conducted a 2018 study that found 14 percent of participants—including 18 percent of heterosexual men—reported they had sexual fantasies about feet. In fact, feet are believed to be among the the most eroticized of body parts.

"As soon as I seen the foot fetish scene in hotd I knew folk would be making reaction videos as if it's the wildest thing they've ever seen bruh calm down," tweeted @Velvetworms_.

User @Velvetworms_ then brought up a famous director who has often been called a foot fetishist: "After all the movies yous have watched from Quentin Tarantino yous are shocked at a 5 sec foot fetish scene, disappointed."

In addition, multiple messages noted that in a show full of murder, incest and other such depictions, a foot fetish is comparatively banal.

"I'm surprised it took so long for there to be a foot fetish thing on this show," JayWyatt111 tweeted.

A representative from HBO declined to comment for this story when contacted by Newsweek.