Elon Musk is standing in an oval office to attend a press conference with US President Donald Trump on May 30, 2025 at the White House in Washington, DC, USA.
Nathan Howard | Reuters
This week, Elon Musk urged his followers to cancel them. Netflix A subscription over a controversy over an animation show and its creator.
On Wednesday, Musk posted to his X platform “Cancel Netflix for the health of your child.” The post responded to an image that accused Netflix of carrying out its “trans awakened agenda.”
The controversy appears to be attributed to a conservative backlash against “Dead End: Paranormal Park,” an animated Netflix show featuring transgender characters. The show was cancelled in 2023 after two seasons.
In addition to several anti-trans posts, Musk responded to posts criticising the criticized statement made by show creator Hamish Steel, saying that the well-known conservative X-account “ock-lol” the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Steel responded to Musk’s callout saying rival social media platform BlueSky “is likely to be a very strange day.” Steele also shared a post by television writer Jacques Bernhardt called “Dead End.”
Netflix did not respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
Analysts say the backlash may not be as big a threat to Netflix as Musk would like.
Netflix reported 336.3 million subscribers as of the fourth quarter of 2024. This was the last metric reported before shifting revenue priorities to user growth. The company’s market capitalization is approximately $490 billion, and its stock has grown by more than 60% over the past year.
Stocks have so far dropped 4% this week.
“Is that going to move the needle inevitably? … You’ll see people sign up on that back to counter it,” CNBC contributor Guy Adami said Wednesday in “Fast Money.”
“I don’t think this is the reason why I sell stocks,” he added.
Alicia Reese of Wedbush Securities told CNBC that comments in the third quarter would have a meaningful impact on subscribers.
Still, she said she believes the backlash won’t be a major dent and that any impact will be offset by an increase in advertising revenue.
“Their numbers should work,” Reese said. “I don’t think the stocks have been hit hard very hard.”
Tim Seymour of Seymour Asset Management said headline dates could drive inventory, but Netflix’s stocks ultimately are too expensive to be heavily affected by the internet backlash.
“We had these moments, whether it was the wrong ad campaign or the feeling that the company was lined up on a particular political channel…I don’t think that’s why we sell Netflix here,” Seymour said Wednesday.
Calls for boycotts oppose them Anheuser-Busch Inbev In 2023, after releasing an ad campaign with transgender influencer Dylan Mulbany. But the Bud Wright boycott, pointed out on Wednesday by CNBC contributor Karen Finnerman, has resulted in “a much greater” destruction than any other example.
“I feel this will be very fleeting,” Finnerman said.
