Oof! Bold & Beautiful Attempts to Sell Luna’s Sexual Harassment as Her ‘Making Her Move’ — Yeah, That’s a Hard Pass

What were you thinking, The Bold and the Beautiful? Were you thinking at all? In a shocking and tone-deaf move,

the long-running CBS soap found itself in the middle of a storm after posting a controversial scene to its official Instagram account —

one that fans quickly slammed as crossing the line from flirtation into full-blown sexual harassment.

The clip in question shows Luna (played by the talented Lisa Yamada) sneaking into Forrester Creations disguised as a pizza delivery person — a paper-thin disguise that wouldn’t fool anyone. Once inside, she corners Will, who clearly wants nothing to do with her advances. Despite his repeated refusals and insistence that she leave, Luna continues to pursue him, her behavior framed by the show’s social media team as something sultry or romantic. The caption beneath the post? “Would you say no?”

Cue the collective gasp.

There’s no denying Yamada’s charisma or beauty — she’s one of the brightest young stars to hit B&B in years — but no amount of charm can disguise the fact that this was not a scene about attraction. It was a scene about violation. Will explicitly said “no.” Luna ignored him. That’s not seduction; that’s harassment.

And it doesn’t stop there. The outrage deepened when viewers remembered what happened later in the storyline: Luna deliberately got Will drunk, wore his girlfriend Electra’s masquerade mask, and slept with him — all while he was too intoxicated to recognize her. The aftermath was painted as a “night of confusion” or “a terrible mistake,” but the truth is far darker.

Let’s call it what it was: rape.

The fact that the show has avoided using that word makes the situation even more disturbing. In an era when television has made major strides toward depicting consent and accountability with nuance and respect, The Bold and the Beautiful seems to have stumbled backward into an uncomfortable past — one where boundary violations are rebranded as passionate gestures, and where trauma is swept under the rug in favor of melodrama.

To be clear, this isn’t a critique of Lisa Yamada, whose performance has been nothing short of riveting. Yamada brings layers of intensity, vulnerability, and emotional depth to Luna, elevating her beyond the typical ingénue role. The problem lies entirely in the writing — and the marketing choices that followed. Why on earth would the show’s official page promote such a disturbing moment as something playful or sexy?

Soap operas have long thrived on blurred moral lines, with forbidden affairs, betrayals, and shocking twists keeping viewers hooked for decades. But even the most heightened drama requires a moral compass — and this storyline spun completely out of control. It’s one thing to write a character’s moral descent; it’s another to glorify it.

The social media backlash was swift and fierce. Fans flooded the comments, expressing outrage and disappointment. Many accused the show of trivializing sexual assault and perpetuating harmful stereotypes about consent. Some pointed out the double standard that often exists in soap storytelling: when a man violates a woman’s boundaries, it’s treated as villainy; when a woman does it to a man, it’s framed as “bold” or “tempting.”

That narrative isn’t just outdated — it’s dangerous.

Adding insult to injury, the aftermath of Luna’s actions within the show has been handled with frustrating softness. Characters refer to “that night” as if it were simply a drunken mistake or a lapse in judgment, brushing aside the disturbing truth: Luna targeted Will. She orchestrated a situation where he couldn’t possibly consent. He wasn’t in control. He was intoxicated, disoriented, and completely vulnerable.

Yet, somehow, the writing reframes her as the misunderstood romantic, painting her guilt as sorrow over a “misunderstanding” rather than remorse for a crime. Will, meanwhile, has been denied the dignity of full victimhood — his trauma minimized, his pain turned into a footnote in Luna’s emotional journey.

This isn’t just bad storytelling. It’s irresponsible storytelling.

For a show that has often prided itself on tackling social issues — from addiction and mental health to family betrayal and power dynamics — this narrative choice feels like a betrayal of its own legacy. The Bold and the Beautiful has the platform and the audience reach to start important conversations about consent and accountability. Instead, it has chosen to muddy the waters and romanticize coercion.

To the show’s credit, Lisa Yamada has reportedly approached Luna’s arc with professionalism and empathy, acknowledging in interviews that the storyline is “deeply complicated.” But when the official branding of that storyline — the captions, the framing, the promotion — trivializes the horror of what occurred, it undermines both her performance and the potential for meaningful storytelling.

In the current media climate, where audiences demand more emotional honesty and ethical responsibility from their entertainment, soap operas can’t afford to lean on outdated tropes of “forbidden passion” that erase the importance of consent. It’s not romantic when someone says “no” and is ignored. It’s not seductive when someone is too drunk to understand what’s happening.

It’s predatory.

If The Bold and the Beautiful wants to move forward from this misstep, it needs to do more than delete a poorly captioned post. It needs to confront the narrative head-on. Will’s trauma deserves to be explored with the same gravity that female survivors on the show have received in the past. Luna’s actions need to have consequences — not because she’s a woman, but because accountability must apply equally, regardless of gender.

This could be an opportunity for the show to correct course — to transform a tone-deaf arc into a meaningful examination of power, consent, and redemption. Soap operas, after all, are at their best when they reflect human flaws and hard truths. But first, the writers and producers must acknowledge the reality of what they’ve written, not hide behind euphemisms or flirtatious marketing.

The Bold and the Beautiful has always thrived on passion — but passion without consent isn’t love. It’s abuse. And trying to sell that as entertainment? That’s not bold or beautiful. It’s just wrong.