Spanish Speakers Are Sharing Their Hilarious Reactions to Netflix's Chupa

Spanish Speakers Are Sharing Their Hilarious Reactions to Netflix's Chupa

Chupa translates to the verb "suck," so you can just begin to imagine the online puns.

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A small boy and his chupacabra friend in Netflix film "Chupa."
Image: Netflix

Netflix’s upcoming film Chupa is a re-imagination of a creature that has haunted the nightmares of many Latin American children for at least three decades: el chupacabras. Aka the goat sucker.

The movie is going to hit the streaming platform in early April. It’s about Alex, a shy Kansas teen who travels to Mexico to visit his family. He finds a baby chupacabra in a barn. It looks like an adorable cross between a kitten and bird, and so Alex decides to name it “chupa.” This discovery sends him on the adventure of a lifetime. Somewhere in the trailer, a girl tells the protagonist that the name Chupa means “sucker.”

But the word “chupa” by itself doesn’t mean sucker—it means “suck” or “to suck.” And… it has some raunchy connotations for many Spanish speakers. There are several definitions on Urban Dictionary that outline how chupa by itself is used to describe a sexual act for many Filipinos, Spanish speakers, and Portuguese speakers.

The Hollywood Handle tweeted the Netflix movie poster this week and was ratioed with 13,700 likes to over 16,000 quote retweets reacting to the comedy gold. Twitter users have demanded to know if Netflix ran the movie title by any Spanish speakers before announcing the new film. Others have tweeted a variation of “I should call him/her.” Some simply posted JAJAJAJAJA, which is them laughing in Spanish.

Author Vanessa Angélica Villarreal tweeted, “Imagine the sheer amount of people this title went through at @netflix all the way to ‘release promo movie poster’ for no one to tell them that you can’t shorten the word ‘chupacabra’ with ‘chupa’ because it literally means ‘to suck off’ … like kids should not google this word.” Joanna Hausmann, a Venezuelan writer and comedian, tweeted “I’ve got some notes.”

People have also pointed out that they’re confused about the setting. The movie is set in Mexico, not in the Caribbean. Some of the earliest supposed sightings of chupacabras are based in the Puerto Rican countryside around the early 1990s, according to an NPR thread about the mythical creature. There’s archival footage from the Associated Press that shows dead animals with puncture wounds in Puerto Rico. One comment on the video suggested that this may have been around Orocovis, a centralized mountain town.

PUERTO RICO: MYSTERIOUS CREATURE TERRORIZES COUNTRYSIDE

Reports have apparently spread from there. Tabloid TV news like Al Rojo Vivo has featured news of the chupacabra terrorizing communities in several countries including Guatemala and Mexico.

When I first saw a tweet with the title of the movie, I screamed. Then I laughed. I then scream-laughed and spent over an hour reading reaction tweets. Here are some of my favorites:

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2 / 13

Who was on the team?

Who was on the team?

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3 / 13

S U C K the movie

S U C K the movie

Image for article titled Spanish Speakers Are Sharing Their Hilarious Reactions to Netflix's Chupa
Screenshot: Twitter/Gizmodo (Fair Use)
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4 / 13

Cross cultural puns

Cross cultural puns

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Screenshot: Twitter/Gizmodo (Fair Use)
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5 / 13

Comedy gold

Comedy gold

Image for article titled Spanish Speakers Are Sharing Their Hilarious Reactions to Netflix's Chupa
Screenshot: Twitter/Gizmodo (Fair Use)
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6 / 13

No Puede Ser

No Puede Ser

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Screenshot: Twitter/Gizmodo (Fair Use)
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7 / 13

Chupa m*la

Chupa m*la

Image for article titled Spanish Speakers Are Sharing Their Hilarious Reactions to Netflix's Chupa
Screenshot: Twitter/Gizmodo (Fair Use)

Add “mela” to “chupa.”

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8 / 13

Movie night

Movie night

Image for article titled Spanish Speakers Are Sharing Their Hilarious Reactions to Netflix's Chupa
Screenshot: Twitter/Gizmodo (Fair Use)
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9 / 13

Please explain

Please explain

Image for article titled Spanish Speakers Are Sharing Their Hilarious Reactions to Netflix's Chupa
Screenshot: Twitter/Gizmodo (Fair Use)
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10 / 13

New Netflix & verb

New Netflix & verb

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Photo: Twitter/Gizmodo (Fair Use)
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11 / 13

Representation?

Representation?

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Screenshot: Twitter/Gizmodo (Fair Use)
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12 / 13

Reject modernity, embrace tradition

Reject modernity, embrace tradition

Image for article titled Spanish Speakers Are Sharing Their Hilarious Reactions to Netflix's Chupa
Screenshot: Twitter/Gizmodo (Fair Use)
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