Elon Musk’s Netflix boycott goes against everything he claims about free speech

In a turn of events that should really surprise nobody, Elon Musk has found a new enemy: a cancelled Netflix cartoon.

The billionaire has been urging people to leave the streaming giant over Dead End: Paranormal Park – a light-hearted, inclusive adventure that ran for two seasons before being axed last year – all because it features a transgender lead character.

He claims the show pushes a ‘woke agenda’, but in my view, the real danger isn’t ‘woke cartoons’. It’s him.

Musk using his platform to police creativity and punish visibility, all while failing the people closest to him is classic deflection. I don’t think he cares about protecting children any more than he cares about reflecting on his own failures as a father.

Vivian Wilson, Musk’s daughter, came out as trans in 2020. Two years later, she applied to legally change her name and gender, making clear that she no longer wished ‘to be related to my biological father in any way’.

In a 2024 interview with NBC, she described him as emotionally and physically absent. Rather than respond with introspection, Musk reacted by blaming what he called ‘the woke mind virus’.

Forget your preconceptions of the trans issue – just think how that would make your child feel. 

There’s something profoundly sad about the fact that the man who builds rockets to reach Mars can’t reach his own child on Earth.

Since then, he has continually poured his energy into attacking trans visibility online. And now, apparently, that extends to devoting his vast influence to rallying against a cartoon that made some young people feel seen for the first time.

The problem, of course, is that when someone with 227 million followers picks a fight, it’s not just words on a screen. It’s a signal for others to pile in.

Unsurprisingly then, British animator and creator of Dead End: Paranormal Park, Hamish Steele, has now received torrents of ‘homophobic and antisemitic emails’ since Musk’s tweets.

Not to mention that Netflix’s share price dipped after Musk’s boycott call.

That shows the real power Musk wields: not free speech, but economic and cultural intimidation. A man worth more than some countries can tweet a sentence and watch a creative’s livelihood collapse.

He’s not exercising his right to express concern about what children watch and this is not about parental concern – if it was, maybe he’d heed the words of the show’s voice actor, Zach Barack, who has been told by both kids and parents that the show ‘saved their lives’.

Although, should a man who has lost his own child’s respect not be lecturing others about family values? Probably not. What is it they say about those in glass houses again?

Like all targets in Musk’s never-ending online crusade against ‘wokeness’ though, this war thrives on distraction.

By pointing at Netflix, shouting about imaginary indoctrination and talking about ‘woke cartoons’, he doesn’t have to talk about his daughter who no longer calls him father.

The biggest threat to children isn’t a trans teenager in a cartoon, it’s adults with power teaching them that empathy is something to fear.

We’ve seen this same tactic across right-wing media in both the US and the UK – to turn diversity into a bogeyman, to make compassion sound radical, and to paint any story of difference as dangerous – but this isn’t the UK.

We don’t burn books or ban cartoons. Our cultural tradition – from an alien Doctor Who to an immigrant Paddington – has always celebrated difference, kindness and imagination. That’s why British cultural exports are unmatched.

The idea that a trans character in a children’s show is somehow a threat runs counter to everything this country’s creativity stands for.

British values aren’t under attack from ‘woke’ cartoons, they’re embodied by them: tolerance, inclusion, humor, and the right to tell stories that reflect the world as it really is.

But Musk has become the poster child for performative outrage.

He accuses a cartoon about inclusion of being ‘political’, while using the world’s biggest platforms to wage a personal culture war. He complains of censorship – on a platform with close to 600million monthly users – yet seeks to silence any story that doesn’t fit his worldview.

And when his online mobs descend on queer creators, he shrugs it off as ‘free speech’.

The irony is almost cinematic. Yet at its heart there still lies a man who despite building rockets, cars and social networks, he cannot build a bridge to his own family.

For all the noise about ‘protecting children’, Musk couldn’t protect the bond with his own.

His daughter found courage in being herself; he found comfort in attacking others who do the same. The guilt must be overwhelming.

Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing Ross.Mccafferty@usnewsrank.com. 

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