With Netflix’s earning call set for the end of January, its investor relations team refused to respond when Breitbart News requested comment about whether it had plans to defund DEI programs, publish content more friendly to President Trump, or distance itself from the Obamas.
Co-CEOs Greg Peters and Ted Sarandos’ apparent unwillingness to rebalance the company’s corporate scope stands in contrast to actions taken by Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon’s Jeff Bozos.
Meta shut down its biased fact checking program and added CEO of UFC and Trump supporter Dana White to its board. Amazon picked up the Melania Trump documentary. Before the November election, Bozos’ Washington Post refused to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris.
“It is clear Netflix programming buyers at all levels have gotten an order from the top, Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters, not to touch content that is friendly toward MAGA or Trump,” said a producer with knowledge of Netflix’s political identity. “Other studios and streamers have publicly made a fast shift but Netflix execs at all levels are obviously scared.”
Corporate shifts are common when political environments change. Just as DEI programs became popular after the 2020 Black Lives Matter riots that cost municipalities millions, companies like Lockheed Martin are announcing new government affairs personnel to work the incoming administration.
Netflix’s silent position on the incoming administration is exacerbated by the streamer’s ongoing commitment to invest $100 million of shareholder money in DEI programs, CNBC reported:
Netflix released a first-of-its-kind diversity study Friday to analyze the makeup of Netflix’s on-screen talent, as well as the behind-the-camera creators, producers, writers and directors.
The report shows that the company has made progress, but still has more work to do to close diversity gaps. The company says it’s committing to an “inclusion lens” to its work, which co-CEO Ted Sarandos says means asking questions like, “Whose voice is missing? Is this portrayal authentic? Who is excluded?”
The company also announced the creation of the Netflix Fund for Creative Equity, which will invest $100 million over the next five years in organizations that help underrepresented communities train and find jobs in TV and film. Netflix also committed to releasing an update on this study every two years through 2026.
During the first years of the Biden administration, Netflix made overtures to conservatives by opposing authoritarian speech codes when it refused to cancel comedian Dave Chapelle on its platform. The decision helped Netflix steadily climb its way out of financial ruin in 2022.
The streaming service’s stock price rebounded and experts project it to perform well into 2025. One of Netflix’s most anticipated projects this year is the release of a documentary on the Duchess of Sussex Megan Markle, who is an outspoken opponent of Donald Trump. Netflix will also continue to work with the Obamas and their production company. “Netflix is proud to partner with Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground Productions. Watch the acclaimed, award-winning movies and series they’ve brought to life,” the site advertises.
Aligning with DEI, Netflix’s claims one of its values is “Inclusion — you recognize your biases and work to counteract them; you work to ensure everyone at Netflix can do their best work, whatever their culture, identity or background.”
Netflix’s political corporate scope is amplified by their employees. Co-founder Reed Hastings reportedly donated $7 million to the Harris campaign. Nearly 100 percent of the Netflix employee donations, amounting to approximately $4.4 million, were in support of Democrats in 2024, according to Quiver Quantitative.
“BI DEN,” Netflix’s social media head Lucie Zhang, who identifies as “She/Her” on LinkedIn, posted on X. Netflix’s vice president of inclusion Wade Davis II praised Michelle Obama’s DNC speech: “#MichelleObama brought both hands during her speech!!! Yes!!!! Let’s Go Kamala.”
Trump won a landslide reelection in November with over 77 million votes, just short of Netflix’s reported 84.8 million paid streaming subscribers across the United States and Canada in the third quarter of 2024. The subscriber growth number slowed last quarter. This begs the question why Netflix would be exclusionary to this large audience.
Following Trump’s victory, Sarandos, a big Obama donor, bent the knee and visited him at Mar-a-Lago, a pilgrimage several tech executives made, given the the scale of their business and the need to navigate regulatory hurdles. “EVERYBODY WANTS TO BE MY FRIEND,” Trump posted on Truth Social after the meetings.
What comes of it remains to be seen.
Wendell Husebo is a political reporter with Breitbart News and a former RNC War Room Analyst. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality. Follow Wendell on “X” @WendellHusebø or on Truth Social @WendellHusebo.
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