Elon Musk waded deeper into America’s culture wars this week, urging his 195 million followers on X to cancel their Netflix subscriptions over what he described as a “transgender woke agenda.”
His comments have fueled a wave of online backlash, but analysts say the controversy is unlikely to inflict lasting damage on the streaming company’s bottom line.
On Wednesday, Musk reposted an image criticizing Netflix for allegedly promoting transgender content, adding the caption: “Cancel Netflix for the health of your kids.” The uproar centers on Dead End: Paranormal Park, a now-canceled animated show that featured a transgender character. The series ran for two seasons before being scrapped in 2023, but it has since become a target for conservative activists.
Musk’s intervention was prompted by posts circulating among right-wing accounts, including one accusing the show’s creator, Hamish Steele, of mocking the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Steele responded on rival social platform Bluesky, quipping, “It’s probably going to be a very odd day.” He also reshared support from TV writer Jack Bernhardt, who described Dead End as “a brilliant show about kind, wonderful characters.”
While Musk has increasingly used his platform to champion conservative causes, analysts argue his call for a boycott will likely have minimal business consequences for Netflix.
The streaming company, which stopped disclosing subscriber numbers earlier this year, last reported 301.63 million global subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2024. With a market capitalization of around $490 billion and shares up more than 60% over the past year, Netflix remains one of Wall Street’s most resilient media companies.
This week, Netflix stock is down about 4% — but analysts attribute the dip more to broader market movement than to Musk’s criticism.
“Is that going to move the needle necessarily? … You’re going to see people sign up on the back of that to counter it,” CNBC contributor Guy Adami said Wednesday on Fast Money. “I don’t think this is a reason to sell the stock.”
Wedbush Securities analyst Alicia Reese echoed that view, noting Musk’s comments came too late in the third quarter to sway reported subscriber metrics. Any marginal fallout, she added, is likely to be offset by Netflix’s growing advertising business.
“Their numbers should come out just fine,” Reese said. “I think that shares haven’t been hit too hard.”
Tim Seymour of Seymour Asset Management said the controversy may briefly rattle trading but argued that Netflix stock is too expensive and too entrenched to be derailed by “internet backlash.”
“We’ve had these moments in time where, whether it was an ad campaign that went wrong or whether it was some sense that a company was aligned in a particular political channel… I don’t think that that’s going to be the reason to sell Netflix here,” he said.
The backlash has drawn comparisons to the boycott of Anheuser-Busch InBev in 2023, after Bud Light featured transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney in an ad campaign. That boycott led to steep sales declines and billions in lost market value for the brewer. But CNBC contributor Karen Finerman argued Musk’s campaign will be far less damaging.
“I feel like this will be very fleeting,” she said.
Musk’s attack on Netflix fits into a broader pattern of high-profile CEOs inserting themselves into divisive social debates — a move that can rattle brands but often proves temporary in its effect. The latest skirmish may prove little more than a passing storm for Netflix, which has weathered controversies ranging from Cuties in 2020 to Dave Chappelle’s comedy specials.
