Many of the lost billions are attributed to Elon Musk, the former Donald Trump associated and head of the Department of Government Efficiency, and platforms like Libs of Tiktok, who have started circulating the trend, “CANCEL NETFLIX.”
The reason: it was found that there are numerous shows advertised for children that introduce them to transgenderism, preferred pronouns, homosexuality, and more.
Some examples include “Transformers Earthspark,” “Strawberry Shortcake: Berry in the Big City,” and “Dead End Paranormal Park,” to name a few.
Ted Baehr is publisher of Movie Guide and chairman of the Christian Film and Television Commission.
He said concern like this over content networks provide goes all the way back to the 1920's.
“That’s when three men -- Joseph Breen, Martin Quigly, Daniel A. Lord -- were complaining about the movies being released by the studios. One movie had Edward G. Robinson prostituting his daughter who was supposed to be nine years old played by a 13-year-old Barbara Stanwyck so he could pay his gambling debts, and another movie “Ecstasy” with 13 minutes of nudity, and so, this stuff has gone on for a long time.”
In its market-driven, please everyone approach, Netflix tries to cater to all and will even provide Christian programming, Baehr said.
That may be true, but the streaming services does a lot of things Christians dislike. They want to reach all marketplaces: women, gays, trans, family, etc.
A simple X search of #CancelNetflix reveals plenty of additional examples.
“Quite often, they don't pay any attention. One of the sad things about the new streamers, whether--- and I don't want to be too mean to anybody because I know the head of programming at Netflix, etc.-- is they don't have the strength of character of the old studios,” Baeher said.
He explained that a friend of his was head of distribution at Warner Brothers.
“Surprisingly, Mel Gibson came in with a lousy version of “Lethal Weapon 2.” He told him ‘we're not going to release it.’ Mel said ‘you have to. You spent millions of dollars promoting it, and it's opening in one week.’”
Baeher’s friend told Gibson that his reputation was worth more than Gibson’s lackluster “Lethal Weapon” sequel.
Baehr added further that he's looked at a lot of today's programs, especially Amazon and Netflix.
He found a lot of shows containing explicit scenes.
He said most top-level film people are not film and entertainment people; they are only into the business side.
"So, we've got a lot of issues here. There's one issue that I've got to point out because Don Wildmon (American Family Association founder) and I stood against several different media outreaches, and we had great clout. One of them that he was complaining about got me to the head of one of the big studios … and I brought in like 20 different theologians to work with them."
Baehr explained that in those days, they had clout because they represented denominations: the Baptists, the Lutherans, the Catholics.
Now, the changing entertainment landscape has affected that clout.
“Netflix is not the type of studio that actually cares about entertainment. It's sort of a side light, and Amazon doesn't care at all because they make their money other places. So we don't have a studio system anymore.”
We have a responsibility
Consumers are slow to understand how important it is for them to engage with the entertainment industry, Baehr said.
Left to its own devices, disregard for wholesome programming has become an industry trend.
"That's why we teach 'How to succeed in Hollywood without losing your soul.’ We should be making a difference. We should be joining together. We should be standing firm. Now, your founder understood that. I understand it. And we just can't let that go again."
