{"id":450142,"date":"2026-02-05T08:15:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T08:15:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/450142\/"},"modified":"2026-02-05T08:15:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T08:15:13","slug":"gop-senators-call-netflix-woke-propaganda-in-ceo-hearing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/450142\/","title":{"rendered":"GOP Senators Call Netflix Woke ‘Propaganda’ In CEO Hearing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Senate Republicans<\/a> grilled Netflix<\/a> co-CEO Ted Sarandos during a Tuesday hearing about the streamer\u2019s bid to acquire Warner Bros.<\/a> film and streaming divisions, calling the platform a \u201cleft-wing company\u201d that has a history of pushing \u201cwokeness\u201d and \u201cpropaganda.\u201d<\/p>\n

The typically poised entertainment exec was visibly flustered as he faced a barrage of pointed questions about go-to GOP grievances around diversity, political bias and transgender representation in front of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights.<\/p>\n

Sen. Ted Cruz<\/a> (R-Texas) accused Netflix<\/a> of having \u201clong been a left-wing company\u201d after a tangent about last Sunday\u2019s politically charged Grammy Awards,<\/a> which aired on rival media conglomerate Paramount Skydance\u2019s flagship network CBS. Paramount Skydance is also jockeying to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, though shareholders rebuffed its offer<\/a> early last month<\/p>\n

After highlighting Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings\u2019 record as a high-spending Democratic donor, Cruz took aim at one of WB\u2019s biggest brands, asking Sarandos how audiences could feel \u201cremotely confident\u201d that the marriage between Netflix and Warner Bros. would not turn the two into a joint \u201cpropaganda outlet.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cCNN<\/a> is already a dumpster fire,\u201d the Texas senator said of the news network, which has long been in President Donald Trump\u2019s<\/a> crosshairs. \u201cThere is nothing resembling objectivity. Nothing resembling journalism anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response, Sarandos stressed that Netflix is an entertainment business at its core, telling Cruz that when subscribers fire up the streamer, \u201cthey are tuned in to be entertained\u201d and pushing any political agenda would be a \u201cbad business decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sarandos was also pressed to enter the culture war arena by Missouri Republican Sens. Josh Hawley<\/a> and Eric Schmitt.<\/a><\/p>\n

Schmitt complained that \u201cthe overwhelming majority of your stuff right now is overwhelmingly woke, and it\u2019s not reflective of what the American people want to see.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cBoth you and Netflix have made a habit of promoting DEI and wokeness,\u201d he went on, saying the streamer\u2019s content \u201cis synonymous for the modern phenomenon of race swapping both historical and real and fictional characters.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe typically poised Ted Sarandos was visibly flustered as he faced a barrage of pointed questions in front of the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights on Tuesday.\"Sarandos,Sarandos, right, shook hands with Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley (R), left, after a contentious Senate subcommittee hearing about the streamer’s proposed merger with Warner Bros. Discovery.<\/p>\n

Bloomberg via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Hawley, meanwhile, asked why Netflix platforms children\u2019s programming that \u201cpromotes a transgender ideology.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sarandos pushed back at both lines of questioning, telling the Show Me State senators, \u201cWe have a great deal of programming on Netflix for all left, right and center. We have state-of-the-art tools for parents to manage what their kids see on Netflix.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sarandos did not have to play defense for the entire hearing, as he took the opportunity to offer some touches of flattery, saying he believed President Trump\u2019s scrutiny of the proposed $83 billion deal was fair.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the President, from my experience, has been nothing but interested in protecting and creating American jobs,\u201d Sarandos said, adding that he believes the merger \u201cwould stand on its merits\u201d at the end of the day.<\/p>\n

Trump appeared to signal he was siding with Paramount Skydance<\/a> in the battle for Warner Bros. Discovery after the entertainment monolith delivered a hostile $108.4 billion bid for the companies in December. <\/p>\n

Telling reporters any deal should hinge on promises to revamp CNN, Trump said, \u201cI don\u2019t think the people that are running that company right now, and running CNN, which is a very dishonest group of people, I don\u2019t think that should be allowed to continue.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Senate Republicans grilled Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos during a Tuesday hearing about the streamer\u2019s bid to acquire Warner…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":450143,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[28,23518,217,720,9669],"class_list":{"0":"post-450142","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-josh-hawley","10":"tag-netflix","11":"tag-senate","12":"tag-ted-cruz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=450142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450142\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/450143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=450142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=450142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=450142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}