President Donald Trump has waded back into Netflix’s business by telling the streaming giant to remove board member Susan Rice or “pay the consequences.”
Last night’s post by Trump renewed the prospect that he will put his thumb on the scale as his administration reviews Netflix’s pending mega-merger.
Netflix has a deal with CNN’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, to acquire HBO, Warner Bros. and other entertainment assets, but the Justice Department is probing the deal and could sue to block it.
With that in mind, the president has been courted by both Netflix and a much smaller media company, Paramount, that is mounting a hostile takeover bid for all of Warner.
Trump has sent mixed messages about whether he intends to be personally involved in the Netflix review process.
Meanwhile, some MAGA media influencers have derided Netflix as a “woke” political actor with too much power over popular culture, a charge the company has rejected.
Trump’s warning to Netflix about Rice, a former top official in both the Obama and Biden administrations, was prompted by an X post by Trump loyalist Laura Loomer.
Loomer criticized Rice’s recent comments on a podcast about companies that bent the knee to Trump and “are going to be held accountable by those who come in opposition to Trump and win at the ballot box.”
Loomer has also repeatedly and falsely claimed that CNN is part of the Netflix transaction, which it is not.
Trump called Rice “racist” and “Trump Deranged” and questioned why she is a Netflix board member. He did not say what the “consequences” would be if she remains on the board.
A Netflix spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. But Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos has continued to express confidence that the company will prevail in the regulatory review process.