Billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk is backing a campaign to boycott Netflix over claims the streaming giant is “pushing” pro-transgender cartoons on children.
The boycott also relates to comments made regarding the assassination of Charlie Kirk by animation director Hamish Steele, whose Netflix show was canceled two years ago.
Steele, 34, sparked backlash from right-wing figures for a post responding to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in the wake of Kirk’s shooting on September 10.
Highlights
- Elon Musk supports a Netflix boycott, alleging the platform promotes pro-transgender cartoons aimed at young children.
- Controversy arose after animation director Hamish Steele made a post on Charlie Kirk's assassination, prompting backlash from right-wing groups.
- The Netflix show 'Dead End: Paranormal Park' features transgender characters and was criticized by right-wing groups.
Elon Musk is backing a boycott of Netflix over trans representation in cartoons
Image credits: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Starmer had posted on X, sending his condolences to Kirk’s family and saying there is no justification for political violence.
According to right-wing X accounts, such as Libs of TikTok, Steele posted on Bluesky, “Why the f**k are you even commenting on this, d***head … a random nazi gets shot and it’s a public statement.”
Steele’s post was shared after Libs of TikTok criticized his show Dead End: Paranormal Park for having transgender representation.
The show ran for two seasons on Netflix from June to October 2022, but it was canceled in January 2023.
“This spooky-but-sweet series follows a diverse group of employees at a haunted theme park, complete with vengeful spirits, a talking pug and LGBTQ+ love,” a descriptive text on the show’s page reads.
Libs of TikTok shared a clip from the show of a character called Barney coming out as trans to another character called Norma, describing how it was important to live life without apology.
Image credits: Jaque Silva/NurPhoto via Getty Images
The account claimed that the show was being promoted by Netflix to 7-year-olds and urged its followers to boycott the streaming platform and cancel memberships.
“OMG. Dead End Paranormal Park, a show on Netflix, is pushing pro-transgender on CHILDREN. This show is advertised for 7-YEAR-OLDS It’s being promoted on @netflix kids now. Parents- BEWARE,” the post read.
It quickly gained traction online, being viewed over 32 million times, and prominent figures such as Musk, who has a trans daughter, Vivian Wilson, began to comment on it.
Right-wing groups have slammed the cartoon, which was canceled in early 2023
On his own X account, Musk shared posts urging his followers to “Cancel Netflix for the health of your kids” and shared others showing an exodus from the platform.
Musk, who is now halfway to becoming the world’s first trillionaire after his wealth exceeded $500 billion, also pushed posts that claimed Netflix is trying to “target and groom children into the gender cult.”
Steele has addressed the backlash to his show on Bluesky, writing, “It's all lies and slander! Netflix is NOT promoting [the show] at the moment!”
A separate post added: “I have mostly been very ok today and found it all quite funny, while really appreciating everyone who has reached out, but the extremely nasty weird [homophobic] and antisemitic emails have started rolling in and it is getting a little scary so I apologise if I take longer to respond to stuff.”
Steele also denied celebrating Kirk’s death.
On Wednesday’s premarket, Netflix shares tumbled 1.74% to $1,178, but it is unclear if this is related to the ongoing boycott.
The boycott comes after more than 1.7 million paying users of Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN canceled their subscriptions in protest of Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension.
Over 1 million people boycotted Disney after Jimmy Kimmel was suspended
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The cancellations happened over six days, from September 17 to September 23, and represented a 436% above baseline subscriber churn, according to The Handbasket.
There were also protests outside the Disney HQ after Kimmel was pulled from the air, with many branding Disney leadership as cowards.
After Kimmel returned to TV following conversations with Disney, he had some of the highest ratings in the past 10 years, with an average of 6.3 million television viewers. His ratings tumbled again after his return episode.