MW Does Elon Musk's call for a Netflix boycott signal a new front in the culture wars?

By Lukas I. Alpert

Musk urged his X followers to cancel Netflix subscriptions over a show he says pushes a transgender agenda, although it's not clear if such a move would have any impact

Netflix is facing calls of a boycott from Elon Musk over an animated show it aired in 2022-23 that featured a transgender character.

First it was Walt Disney Co. that found itself in the boycott crosshairs. Now, it might be Netflix Inc.'s turn.

Elon Musk has urged his followers on X to cancel their subscriptions over a show on Netflix that he said pushed a transgender agenda, and whose creator made critical remarks of slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

Musk's posts triggered thousands of responses in support of such a move, although it was not clear if it would ultimately have any significant impact on Netflix's subscriber base or profitability.

Netflix shares $(NFLX)$ were trading down about 2% in early-afternoon trading Wednesday. A Netflix spokesperson didn't immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

Musk weighed in after some X users accused Hamish Steele - the creator of an animated series called "Dead End: Paranormal Park," which ran for two seasons on Netflix from 2022-23 - of calling Kirk "a random Nazi" shortly after he was fatally shot. Steele's show, which features a transgender character, was also accused of pushing a "transgender woke agenda" on children.

That led Musk to urge his followers to: "Cancel Netflix for the health of your kids."

Steele responded to say he never celebrated Kirk's death, calling the accusations against him "all lies and slander."

Musk's call comes just weeks after the Disney $(DIS)$ weathered similar online calls for a boycott of its streaming services after the company suspended ABC late-night talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel over comments he made about the response to Kirk's killing, which led to threats from the Trump administration against the network and its affiliates.

It's not clear how much of an impact the boycott push had on Disney's subscriber numbers or bottom line. Disney reported having 183 million Disney+ and Hulu subscribers worldwide at the end of its third fiscal quarter, which ended in June.

A Disney spokesperson didn't immediately respond to a message seeking comment. Disney doesn't report results for its latest quarter, which runs through September, until early November.

ABC ultimately reinstated Kimmel after a week of uproar over the decision to shelve his show, which sparked heavy criticism from within Hollywood and from free-speech advocates, Democrats and even some Republicans who said pressure from the Trump administration amounted to an assault on free speech.

Analysts said at the time that a boycott of Disney could have a short-term impact, but was unlikely to cause serious damage to the company's fortunes.

Netflix similarly would likely be able to weather even a sustained boycott without major impact. The streamer said at the end of 2024 that it had over 300 million global subscribers. The company has since stopped publicly reporting its subscriber figures, so the impact of a boycott may never be known.

The company reported significant jumps in revenue and net profit in the second quarter, and its stock hit an all-time high over the summer but has fallen about 10% since then.

Disney and Netflix aren't the first corporations to face politically driven boycotts in the past. Musk's Tesla Inc.( TSLA), Anheuser-Busch InBev S.A.'s $(BUD)$ (BE:ABI) Bud Light and Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc. $(CBRL)$ all were impacted by culture-war boycotts in recent years.

In 2023, Bud Light saw its sales decline by $1.4 billion and the company's market capitalization drop by $27 billion following a boycott of the brand by conservatives angry over its use of a transgender comedian in an advertising campaign.

Tesla has seen its sales drop 13% year over year as its liberal-leaning clientele was angered by Musk, the company's chief executive, embracing President Donald Trump and far-right politicians abroad.

Cracker Barrel reported a decline in revenue and an 8% drop in store visits after a makeover of its logo and stores angered its customers.

-Lukas I. Alpert

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October 01, 2025 14:22 ET (18:22 GMT)

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