Conservative American Bruce Townsend, a longtime Netflix subscriber, cancelled his Netflix subscription after he learnt that the popular streaming platform’s CEO is backing Kamala Harris. Townsend specified his reason for dumping Netflix – it supports the Kamala Harris campaign for 2024.
Townsend is not alone in parting ways with Netflix. Conservatives have been cancelling the streaming platform en masse since the news broke of Netflix CEO and chairman, Reed Hastings, endorsing Harris for President. Newsmax reported on Monday (September 30) that Netflix cancellations have tripled after Hastings endorsed Harris in July and followed it up with a $7 million donation to a pro-Harris super PAC. According to the report:
Three days after Hastings’ donation was reported Netflix subscriptions dipped dramatically — it was the single worst day for terminations in 2024, per Bloomberg.
Conservatives already had developed a growing dislike for Netfklix over its left-leaning policies and many had cancelled the streaming service before the Harris endorsement made news. They called on like-minded Americans to do the same.
Posts from MAGA conservatives on X (Twitter) also suggest that they see endorsing Kamala Harris as equaling an attack on America’s children and destruction of the country.
Leftist news outlet USA Today jumped in to challenge this social media post that urged a Netflix boycott over Hastings’ endorsement and donation to support Harris by fact-checking the claim that Hastings donated to the Harris campaign. The fact-checking post attempted to split hairs by arguing that the donation was not directly made to the Harris campaign but to a super PAC affiliated with Harris.
The calls for boycott of Netflix went beyond the Harris endorsement issue as conservatives reminded of the platform’s content promoting transgenderism in children, the issue conservatives have been fighting tooth and nail.
Commenting on the conservative outrage resulting in Netflix boycott, Movieguide.org suggested a more effective way of countering leftist entertainment platforms. The Christian-perspective site wrote:
There’s more that conservatives and Christians can do to support the kind of content they want, other than just boycotting or canceling a subscription. They can vote with their dollars and support uplifting, wholesome and family-friendly projects.
In June this year, Simon Montlake of The Christian Science Monitor called to attention the contrast between the political ideology of most Netflix employees and the official platform policies regarding content. Montlake noted that in 2020, about 98% of the political contributions of Netflix went to Democrats. However, the company has worked on keeping its staff’s politics from spilling over the platform’s presentation. At times, this even pissed the liberal employees of the platform, like in 2021 when Dave Chappelle’s stand-up special The Closer led to one employee quitting over some of the comedic segments deemed transphobic by the left.