Elon Musk is leading calls for Americans to cancel their Netflix subscriptions after it featured children’s cartoons with transgender characters.
Mr Musk encouraged his followers to boycott the streaming platform, writing on X: “Cancel Netflix for the health of your kids.”
The post was accompanied by a cartoon depicting Netflix as a Trojan Horse with the words “Transgender Woke Agenda” sneaking inside a castle labelled “your kids”.
In a separate post, Mr Musk said it was “true” that Netflix is “actively pushing” transgender ideology on underage users. He also said he had cancelled his own Netflix subscription.
The streaming service became the subject of Maga influencers’ ire after its official companion site, Tudum, released a list of shows and films celebrating transgender people.
The 16 recommendations, compiled for “trans day of visibility” on March 31, include cartoons meant for children as young as seven. The list “sheds light on trans lives and reminds us just how relatable and universal the experiences of the most marginalised voices are,” according to Tudum.
Although it was released in March, the three programmes aimed at children are still being streamed.
The list included Wendell & Wild, a PG-13-rated film featuring a young transgender boy as its main character, and the series Rocko’s Modern Life: Static Cling, following the adventures of an Australian immigrant wallaby, whose friend transitions from male to female.
Another of the shows featured on the list, Dead End: Paranormal Park, caught Mr Musk’s attention after a clip was shared by the conservative X account Libs of TikTok.
In the clip, which Mr Musk branded “not ok,” Barney, one of the show’s central characters, confesses to being trans.
“OMG. Dead End Paranormal Park, a show on Netflix, is pushing pro-transgender on CHILDREN. This show is advertised for 7-YEAR-OLDS. It’s being promoted on @netflix kids now. Parents – BEWARE,” Libs of TikTok, a conservative X account, wrote. The post has more than 4.3m views.
Further outrage was sparked after an X post apparently made by the show’s creator was circulated in which he appears to refer to Charlie Kirk as a “d—head” and a “Nazi”.
“You will never guess who the creator of this show is… a he/they LGBTQ bluesky fan who mocked Charlie’s murder and called him a Nazi. Is anyone surprised??” LibsofTikTok wrote in a follow-up post.
Mr Musk was joined by a host of conservative influencers who called for users to end their subscriptions.
Benny Johnson, a conservative podcast host, wrote on X: “Netflix is sexualising children by packaging explicit, graphic, radical sex topics as ‘children’s entertainment’.
“What Netflix is doing goes beyond a culture war fight. It’s immoral. And it should be illegal…”
James Esses, a British psychotherapist who was expelled from a master’s course in London after expressing gender-critical views, wrote on X: “Transgender propaganda isn’t just quietly lurking in the background on Netflix…They are actively pushing it on users.”
Since returning to office, Donald Trump has signed a string of executive orders to crack down on transgender ideology, banning “indoctrination” in schools and prohibiting children from undergoing gender transition surgery.
Mr Musk has long railed against Democrats for their support of gender-affirming care for children, saying in an interview last year that his teenage child, who is transgender, was “killed by the woke mind virus”.
Netflix was contacted for comment.
[Telegraph]