Elon Musk, the multi-billionaire and self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist”, has in recent days trained his attention on getting people to cancel their Netflix subscriptions in protest of what he claims is the company’s “woke bias” and inclusion of LGBTQ+ characters.
Musk, the richest person in the world with a net worth of approximately $500bn, has repeatedly encouraged his 227 million followers on X, the platform he controls, to cancel their Netflix subscriptions. In the past three days alone, he has posted or reposted calls to cancel Netflix for its content at least 26 times.
Musk’s anti-Netflix tirade began on Tuesday, when he posted “this is not ok” while quoting a post from rightwing activist account Libs of TikTok’s clip of the Netflix show Dead End: Paranormal Park, in which the character Barney says he is transgender.
“Dead End Paranormal Park, a show on Netflix, is pushing pro-transgender on CHILDREN. This show is advertised for 7-YEAR-OLDS,” said the Libs of TikTok post, referring to Netflix’s TV-Y7 rating designating the show appropriate for viewers aged seven and older. Paranormal Park ran for 20 episodes in 2022, and was canceled by Netflix the following year. The company is not currently promoting the show.
Zach Barack, the voice actor for Barney and the first openly transgender actor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, quickly rebuffed Musk’s narrative on X, writing: “you can fear monger all you want, but kids & parents have told me it saved their lives!!”
In the days since, Musk has reposted several tweets from other users who claim to have canceled their subscriptions in protest of what he claims is an agenda to brainwash children with content supportive of LGBTQ+ rights.
“Cancel Netflix for the health of your kids,” he posted on Wednesday while quoting a meme depicting Netflix’s “transgender woke agenda” as a Trojan horse being admitted to a castle labeled “your kids”.
“True,” he wrote on Thursday over another user’s tweet claiming: “Transgender propaganda isn’t just quietly lurking in the background on Netflix. They are actively pushing it on users.” He linked to an article on Netflix’s Tudum media site titled “Celebrate Trans Day of Visibility with These 16 Movies and Shows.”
Musk has also called out pro-trans themes in shows such as The Baby-Sitters Club and Cocomelon, advanced rightwing arguments that Netflix has an “anti-white” hiring process, and reposted false claims, including that 100% of political donations by Netflix employees in 2024 went to Democrats.
Additionally, Musk commented “Cancel Netflix” on a Libs of TikTok post about Netflix’s 2023 report on its diversity and inclusion initiatives.
Musk is the father of a transgender daughter, Vivian Wilson, who has publicly criticized her father’s anti-trans vendetta. In her 2022 petition to legally change her name and gender, Wilson wrote: “I no longer live with or wish to be related to my biological father in any way, shape or form.”
Musk has since said that he “lost my son, essentially” and claimed that he had been “tricked” into allowing gender-affirming care for Wilson, whom he claimed was “dead, killed by the woke mind virus”.
Netflix, a company whose executives have repeatedly invoked freedom of speech when faced with backlash for content on its platform, has not publicly responded to Musk’s taunts. This is not the first time the company has come under fire from the right – in 2020, outrage over its film Cuties, which depicted underage actors performing sexualized dance routines, led to a spike in US customer cancellations, though it receded within days.
In 2021, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos cited free speech when defending comedian Dave Chappelle, whose anti-trans comments in his special The Closer led to an employee walkout at Netflix’s California headquarters. Sarandos has also stood behind the company’s decision to commission three specials from rightwing comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, whose racist comments calling Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” at a Trump rally last year drew widespread consternation.
Musk’s calls for mass cancellation of Netflix subscriptions comes on the heels of an unrelated free speech firestorm in Hollywood over Disney’s indefinite suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night talkshow under pressure from the Trump administration. After backlash from celebrities as well as customers cancelling their Disney+ subscriptions, the company allowed Kimmel back on the air.
