Former US President Barack Obama campaigning for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris last year in Milwaukee. Photo / Joel Angel Juarez, for The Washington Post
As the Trump Administration eyes duelling bids by Netflix and Paramount to buy the entertainment giant Warner Bros Discovery, a cadre of right-wing influencers are launching broadsides against Netflix for its ties to former President Barack Obama.
“This is all about the Obamas taking over media,” activist Jack Posobiec wrote on X, pointing to a deal Netflix struck in 2018 with Barack and Michelle Obama’s production company, Higher Ground.
In a post that has been reshared nearly 10,000 times on Elon Musk’s social media platform, conservative podcaster Benny Johnson called Netflix’s US$83 billion deal to buy Warner Bros Discovery “the most dangerous media consolidation in American history”.
He suggested that “the Democrat super-donors that run Netflix will now own a monopoly on children’s entertainment”.
The right-wing chorus, which includes Trump’s self-described “loyalty enforcer” Laura Loomer, has also focused on Susan Rice, Obama’s former national security adviser and United Nations ambassador, who sits on the streaming giant’s board of directors.
The commentariat’s push to paint Netflix as aligned with Democrats and a liberal agenda adds to a swirl of controversy and intrigue circling what would be one of the largest media mergers in recent history.
It amounts to an online appeal from the right to a Trump Administration that has the authority to review a deal of this size under anti-trust laws and has shown itself willing to intervene in media deals - and to lend an ear to right-wing influencers.
Johnson, Posobiec and Loomer are part of an ascendant class of conspiracy-minded, pro-Trump new-media commentators that has enjoyed special access to the Administration. Whether their message about Netflix is finding an audience in the White House is not yet clear.
“I have no idea what they’re thinking,” Loomer said via text message when asked if Trump officials are listening to her criticisms of the deal.
Posobiec said via text message today that he hasn’t spoken directly to anyone at the White House about his concerns either, but said he’s been highlighting the issue on his show and “pointing out the ‘Woke’ themes” in its programming that he claims weren’t there before the Obamas’ deal with Netflix.
The White House declined to comment on the right-wing critique.
Trump told reporters yesterday that he didn’t know enough about Paramount’s bid to weigh in on it.
“None of them are particularly great friends of mine,” he said, in an apparent reference to Paramount chief executive David Ellison and Netflix co-chief executive Ted Sarandos. “I want to do what’s right.”
Netflix declined to comment for this story. A spokesperson for Barack Obama also declined to comment.
Warner Bros Discovery spent months evaluating bids from Comcast, Netflix, and Paramount Skydance, now run by Ellison, the son of Trump ally and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison.
Warner Bros entered a deal with Netflix last week, rejecting Paramount Skydance’s bid for the entire company, including CNN and other cable channels that WBD has said it would spin off.
Trump praised Netflix’s Sarandos on Monday but told reporters that Netflix’s market share in streaming could be a “problem” and that he’d be personally involved in any regulatory approval process.
Paramount Skydance aunched its own, unsolicited bid to take over Warner Bros Discovery. The company told investors that its deal, which features financial backing from Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, would have a quicker pathway to regulatory approval.
Barack and Michelle Obama launched Higher Ground in 2018 as part of a multiyear agreement with Netflix to provide TV series, documentaries and movies for the streaming platform.
The couple said at the time that its goal was not to directly counter Trump, who at the time was in his first term, but rather to highlight inspirational stories of people making a difference in their communities. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Among the titles Higher Ground has produced for Netflix are the 2019 film American Factory, which won an Academy Award for best documentary; Becoming, a 2020 documentary about Michelle Obama based on her memoir of the same name; and Leave the World Behind, an apocalyptic thriller starring Julia Roberts.
It also produced Rustin, a biographical film about civil rights leader Bayard Rustin, for which actor Colman Domingo received an Academy Award nomination for best actor in a leading role.
Netflix and Higher Ground extended their partnership last year in a deal that gives the streamer a first look at any of the production company’s projects.
Higher Ground has also produced programmes for others including Walt Disney’s 20th Century Studios and entered an agreement with Spotify to produce podcasts in 2019.
Despite Higher Ground’s successes, most of Netflix’s top shows and movies - such as Squid Game, Wednesday and Stranger Things - have no connection to the production company.
The streaming giant’s highest-profile deals have been with showrunners such as Shonda Rhimes and Ryan Murphy, not the former president.
Loomer was among the first high-profile influencers to highlight the Obamas’ influence on Netflix, tweeting last month: “If Netflix is allowed to buy Warner Bros and Trump’s administration doesn’t kill off the merger, CNN will be transformed into the Obama News Network, featuring shows hosted by Michelle Obama where she lectures Americans about how racist and sexist we are.”
In fact, the proposed Netflix purchase would leave CNN and other WBD cable assets in a separate company. In a more recent blog post, Loomer didn’t mention CNN but suggested the deal was intended to lay the groundwork for a presidential run by Michelle Obama.
Opposition to Netflix from the right isn’t entirely new.
In October, Musk urged his more than 220 million followers on X to “cancel Netflix for the health of your kids”, sharing a meme that suggested the streaming company pushes a “transgender woke agenda”.
He was responding to social media posts that drew attention to a short-lived Netflix animated series that featured a transgender character and indicated that the show’s creator had criticised the slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
On the other hand, in 2021, Netflix faced a backlash from transgender communities and their allies over a David Chappelle comedy special in which he said that “gender is a fact” and criticised LGBTQ+ people as “too sensitive”.
Sign up to Herald Premium Editor’s Picks, delivered straight to your inbox every Friday. Editor-in-Chief Murray Kirkness picks the week’s best features, interviews and investigations. Sign up for Herald Premium here.