Netflix is ​​in the middle of a culture war during a Senate hearing

Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos waded into the middle of a culture war in Congress on Tuesday while testifying before a Senate subcommittee on the company’s rights. Trying to buy a big chunk of Warner Bros Discovery.

The hearing before the Senate Judiciary’s antitrust subcommittee highlighted a host of traditional merger concerns on both sides of the aisle: that the deal could raise costs for consumers, limit their theatrical experiences, or shrink the market for entertainment jobs. But much of the hearing also focused on alleged Netflix programming, including content featuring transgender characters.

Netflix is ​​facing a Competing bid From Paramount Skydance, which is run by CEO David Ellison, the son of close ally of President Donald Trump and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison. WBD rejected Paramount’s bid, but Republicans are pushing to remove Netflix from the race.

“Why in the world would we give you a stamp of approval or a thumbs up to make you the biggest giant on the planet in terms of content?” asked Senator Eric Schmidt (R-MO). “It looks as if you have engaged in creating not only a content monopoly, but the most vigilant content in the history of the world.”

After Subcommittee Member Cory Booker (D-N.J.) began his questioning after Schmidt by saying he would return to the topic of antitrust, Senator Ashley Moody (R-Fla.) responded that the content issue was relevant to the topic at hand. “If there are people across America who are already struggling with their limited choices, then you’re proposing to get bigger, and I’m just saying maybe that shouldn’t be a joke,” she told the executives. “Let’s get back to antitrust. Let’s really talk about whether there are going to be choices.”

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) has taken a difficult pivot from asking whether Netflix will commit to using union labor and paying the rest of its streaming content to asking: “Why does so much Netflix content for kids promote transgender ideology?” Hawley claimed that “nearly half” of his content intended for underage children, excluding older teens, “promotes a transgender ideological agenda.” Sarandos said he did not know where this alleged number came from, and said that “Netflix has no political agenda of any kind.”

French film Request activation code It featured heavily in the hearing as an example of hypersexualized child content. The movie that was Created as a comment About the sexualization of young girls, Sarandos said it was rated for a mature audience, not children, and became a symbol of Netflix’s allegedly ideologically oriented library. Billionaire and Trump supporter Elon Musk He previously led a campaign against Netflix Over shows like Dead End: Paranormal Park and Babysitters Club To highlight trans characters. GOP lawmakers also pointed to Democratic-leaning political donations to Netflix employees and content featuring LGBTQ+ characters as other examples of its bias.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) asked Sarandos and WBD Chief Revenue and Strategy Officer Bruce Campbell if they watched the Grammy Awards this weekend (only Sarandos got the “finale”). “Are we now on stolen land?” Cruz asked pointedly, referring to the artist Billie Eilish’s anti-ICE speech“No one is illegal on stolen land,” she said. They both said they didn’t know. (The Grammy Awards were broadcast on CBS, owned by Paramount Skydance.)

Booker said Ellison declined an invitation to attend the hearing because he believed it would not be helpful under the circumstances. But Ellison met with lawmakers privately, and Booker described his conversation with him as “productive.” The Paramount show could raise some of the same concerns as the Netflix show, but Ellison’s father’s close relationship with President Donald Trump would likely ease some of Republicans’ concerns about the content, and raise them for Democrats.

Booker raised deep concerns about whether any transaction would be fairly reviewed by independent enforcers under the Trump administration. Sarandos admitted that he met with Trump shortly before the deal was announced, but the deal was not discussed in detail and was not the primary purpose of the conversation. “I don’t trust this administration in their assessments, and I just pray that everything that you all hope for going forward, that you all bear witness to, will come true,” Booker said.