Elon Musk’s Netflix Crusade Reaches US Congress
Elon Musk’s war against Netflix is making its way up to the federal government. A member of Congress admitted that investigations regarding the streaming service’s LGBTQ+ content are likely on the horizon. The world’s richest man has been meddling in political and social issues in recent years as his wealth and power grow.
Earlier this year, he helped oversee the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), with the goal of rooting out wasteful spending. Even though he claimed he was going to cut trillions of dollars, he failed to do so.
After leaving the federal government, he focused his attention on another issue: the LGBTQ+ community. In recent weeks, he called on people to boycott Netflix over an animated show called Dead End: Paranormal Park that included transgender content.
Other prominent homophobic and transphobic individuals are now following his lead by calling out various Netflix shows with LGBTQ+ representation, including Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous.
While appearing on The Benny Show podcast, Representative Tim Burchett from Tennessee reacted to Musk’s crusade against Netflix for including LGBTQ+ storylines in its shows.
He started off his comments by quickly acknowledging the existence of the First Amendment. He then announced that he plans to determine which committees in Congress should investigate Netflix and have executives from the streamer brought before them to testify.
Burchett added that Congress needs to figure out what Netflix’s “agenda is and why they’re pushing“LGBTQ+ content in its shows. He then claimed, without evidence, that Dead End: Paranormal Parkthe series at the center of the controversy, is “recruiting“and”grooming” kids.
Here’s what I want to do on this one because the First Amendment and all that is involved in it, of course, but let’s get on it. I’m going to follow up with my folks after we get off, and we’ll call them and say, which committee can they be brought in front of? I think what we have to look at, who regulates the FCC, and since it’s cable, does that count? I don’t know. I don’t know enough about it, but they need to be brought in. We need to find out what their agenda is and why they’re pushing this stuff. Because from what I understand, that little cartoon is apparently the No. 1 rated cartoon they have on their show. I haven’t seen it. It looks kind of like claymation or something, I’m not really sure. (Dead End: Paranormal Park) is recruiting, it is grooming, it is the worst of the worst.
What Elon Musk’s Netflix War Reaching the Halls of Congress Means
The timing of Musk’s war against Netflix doesn’t seem like a coincidence. In September, amid pressure from the federal government and major TV broadcasters, Disney briefly suspended late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel for comments he made about Charlie Kirk’s killer. Kimmel eventually returned to the air, giving a passionate monologue about the importance of free speech.
Broadcasters Nexstar and Sinclair, which refused to air his show, eventually relented and resumed airing Jimmy Kimmel Live on their local ABC stations.
FCC chair Brendan Carr, who led the push to oust Kimmel, will testify before Congress at some point in the coming weeks about the matter.
Now there’s a new push for the federal government to meddle in another media company, via Musk’s war against Netflix. Transphobic rhetoric and laws have been on the rise in recent years, and Musk’s latest battle adds fuel to the fire of an already tense and fraught situation.
The federal government lost its fight to get Kimmel fired, but instead of learning from the situation, they’re going full steam ahead with a brand-new fight.
Our Take On Federal Government Investigating Netflix Over LGBTQ+ Content
Aside from the anti-trans comments, Burchett didn’t even have his facts straight when it came to that Dead End: Paranormal Park and Netflix. He seemed to think the streaming service was a cable company and claimed the show looks like claymation, even though it doesn’t at all.
Multiple shows on Netflix feature LGBTQ+ characters and storylines. There is obviously nothing wrong with kids viewing this content because nothing inappropriate has been shown. Contrary to what Burchett falsely claimed, shows like Dead End: Paranormal Park are not “grooming“children. Representation matters, and it’s important for kids to see themselves (and people who are different from them) in the content they consume.
However, issues involving the transgender community bring out very strong opinions on both sides of the political aisle, so people in positions of power like Musk (who has a trans daughter he’s estranged from) and Burchett know that they will be able to create a firestorm against Netflix no matter what the outcome is.
- Release Date
-
2022 – 2022-00-00
-
Zach Barack
Barney Guttman
-