World's richest person Elon Musk has urged his followers to cancel their Netflix subscriptions amid controversy surrounding an animated series and its creator.
Musk wrote on his X platform Wednesday: "Cancel Netflix for the good of children." The post was in response to an image accusing Netflix of implementing a "transgender woke agenda."
The controversy appears to stem from conservative backlash against Netflix's animated series "Dead End: Paranormal Park," which features transgender main characters. The show was cancelled in 2023 after two seasons.
Beyond repeatedly posting anti-transgender content, Musk also responded to a post criticizing comments made by the show's creator Hamish Steele, with a prominent conservative X account claiming these comments "mocked" the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Steele responded to Musk's call on rival social media platform Bluesky, saying: "This is going to be a very weird day." Steele also shared a post from television writer Jack Bernhardt describing "Dead End" as an "amazing show about kindness and wonderful characters."
Analysts suggest such rhetoric may not pose the significant threat to Netflix that Musk might hope for.
As of Q4 2024, Netflix reported 301.63 million subscribers, marking the last time the company disclosed this metric before prioritizing revenue growth over subscriber growth. The company maintains a market capitalization of approximately $490 billion, with its stock price rising more than 60% over the past year.
Netflix shares have declined 4% so far this week.