Senate Republicans grilled Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos during a Tuesday hearing about the streamer’s bid to acquire Warner Bros. film and streaming divisions, calling the platform a “left-wing company” that has a history of pushing “wokeness” and “propaganda.”
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.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) accused Netflix of having “long been a left-wing company” after a tangent about last Sunday’s politically charged Grammy Awards, which aired on rival media conglomerate Paramount Skydance’s flagship network CBS. Paramount Skydance is also jockeying to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, though shareholders rebuffed its offer early last month
After highlighting Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings’ record as a high-spending Democratic donor, Cruz took aim at one of WB’s biggest brands, asking Sarandos how audiences could feel “remotely confident” that the marriage between Netflix and Warner Bros. would not turn the two into a joint “propaganda outlet.”
