Elon Musk loves shaking things up. One week, he’s renaming Wikipedia “D****pedia,” another week, he threatens to ban iPhones at Tesla, and now, he’s telling his 226 million followers to cancel Netflix. Yes, really. So why is Musk suddenly so mad at the world’s biggest streaming service? Let’s unpack it. Musk’s call to cancel Netflix On Wednesday morning, Musk posted: Cancel Netflix for the health of your kids. The Tesla and SpaceX chief said he canceled his own Netflix account after criticism resurfaced against Hamish Steele, the creator of the animated Netflix show ‘Dead End: Paranormal Park.’ Screenshots claimed Steele mocked conservative activist Charlie Kirk after his death, calling him a “nazi.”
Right-wing accounts like Libs of TikTok circulated the post, and Musk joined in, accusing Netflix of employing Steele and pushing “woke trans content” on children. The show at the center The Netflix show in question is an animated fantasy-comedy that ran for two seasons in 2022 before being canceled in 2023. It followed teens working at a haunted amusement park, with ghosts, demons, and a talking pug. The main character, Barney Guttman, is openly trans, something that critics hailed as positive representation but right-wing groups blasted as “agenda-driven.” Mashable called the show “meaningful LGBTQ representation,” and it still holds a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score (though from a small number of reviews). Steele’s response Hamish Steele has pushed back against the controversy. On Bluesky, he wrote:“It’s all lies and slander! Netflix is NOT promoting [the show] at the moment!” He also said his inbox has been filled with homophobic and antisemitic abuse since Musk and others amplified the backlash. Netflix and backlash- A familiar story This isn’t the first time Netflix has been caught in the middle of a culture war. In 2021, comedian Dave Chappelle’s stand-up specials were slammed for jokes about trans people, leading to walkouts and boycotts. At the time, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos defended the streamer, saying the company supports “artistic freedom and the creators that work at Netflix.” Now, Musk’s campaign has revived calls to “cancel Netflix,” and searches for the phrase spiked on Google this week. Netflix’s stock slipped about 2% on Wednesday, though the market overall was choppy. Musk’s personal history on trans issues Musk’s stance isn’t random. His daughter Vivian transitioned in 2020, and the billionaire has often blamed what he calls the “woke mind virus” for their estrangement. He has frequently spoken against gender identity movements online. This controversy fits into his broader pattern of targeting platforms and organisations he disagrees with, from calling to delete Facebook to saying “defund NPR.” Will Netflix really lose subscribers It’s still unclear if Musk’s posts will spark a real wave of cancellations. Some X users posted screenshots showing they quit Netflix, but no large-scale impact has been confirmed yet.
What’s clear is that Musk has once again pulled a giant company into his ongoing culture-war battles and made sure the internet is talking about it.
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