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If you’ve noticed the phrase “cancel Netflix” on your social media feeds today, you’re certainly not alone.
The streaming giant is at the center of a new controversy involving a little-known animation series, which recently came under fire from Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
The show, Dead End: Paranormal Park, was canceled by Netflix in 2023, but Musk recently joined the campaign to punish the service for ever carrying it at all.
Musk’s complaint stems from the fact that the series featured a character named Barry Guttman, who, at one point, comes out as transgender.
Elon Musk lashes out at canceled Netflix series
“This is not ok,” Musk tweeted, along with a clip from the show. “Cancel Netflix for the health of your kids,” he added.
The billionaire X owner then posted a screenshot to prove that he had canceled his own Netflix account.
He later kept up his assault on the service, tweeting scenes from other shows that featured storylines featuring trans characters and repeating his calls for a boycott.
Not surprisingly, “cancel Netflix” quickly became the top trending topic on X, and the situation led to harassment directed at Dead End: Paranormal Park showrunner, Hamish Steele.
Steele initially took the situation in stride, joking that Netflix is in no way promoting his canceled series.
“It’s all lies and slander! Netflix is NOT promoting at the moment!” he wrote (via Deadline).
Just hours later, Steele reported that the situation had escalated to a frightening degree.
“I have mostly been very ok today and found it all quite funny, while really appreciating everyone who has reached out, but the extremely nasty weird homophobic and antisemitic emails have started rolling in and it is getting a little scary so I apologize if I take longer to respond to stuff,” he wrote.
“I will just say today is much much worse and I am going to basically be on the down low for the foreseeable,” Steele continued, adding, “My apologies.”
Musk has a long history of opposing trans rights, seemingly stemming from his fractured relationship with daughter Vivian Wilson.
Wilson says she is no longer on speaking terms with her father after coming out as trans.
While it’s impossible to say how much of an impact Musk’s boycott has had in terms of subscribers, Netflix’s stock slid roughly two percent in the day since he launched his war against the brand.
