Netflix found itself in hot water after co-founder Reed Hastings decided to throw his weight (and money) behind Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign. According to reports, Hastings’ hefty $7 million donation to a pro-Harris super PAC didn’t sit well with a sizable portion of the streaming giant’s subscriber base. After Hastings made his grand announcement, Netflix saw a significant spike in cancelations, almost tripling in the U.S. as disgruntled customers hit the “unsubscribe” button, Bloomberg reported, citing data from researcher Antenna.
This isn’t the first time Hastings has played politics with his wallet, but this latest move seemed to strike a nerve. Supporters of former President Trump wasted no time calling on fellow conservatives to cancel their Netflix subscriptions in protest. And the backlash wasn’t just a minor blip. July saw the highest rate of cancelations Netflix had experienced since February 2024, with the platform’s decision to phase out its lowest-cost option likely compounding the problem. But as Bloomberg noted, the five-day period following Hastings’ endorsement was particularly brutal, with July 26 marking Netflix’s worst day for cancelations this year.
So what exactly caused the cancelation frenzy? It’s hard to ignore the timing. Hastings dropped his $7 million donation bombshell on July 23, and just three days later, Netflix’s cancelation numbers shot through the roof. Coincidence? Probably not. Hastings, a longtime Democratic donor, had also been pushing for President Biden to step aside following a less-than-stellar debate performance. He argued that Biden needed to make room for a “vigorous Democratic leader” like Harris to defeat Trump and keep the country on track.
Hastings and his wife, Patty Quillin, are no strangers to writing big checks for their favorite Democratic causes. Back in 2021, Hastings shelled out around $3 million to fight the recall effort against California Gov. Gavin Newsom. His wife, meanwhile, has been busy donating to groups trying to protect liberal politicians like San Francisco’s controversial former District Attorney, Chesa Boudin, from getting the boot. Clearly, when it comes to political donations, the Hastings family doesn’t do anything halfway.
This isn’t the first time Hastings has tossed millions into political campaigns. In 2018, he made headlines for donating another $7 million, this time to a charter school-related PAC supporting Antonio Villaraigosa, one of Newsom’s primary opponents in the California gubernatorial race. It seems like no matter the cause, if there’s a Democratic candidate in need of cash, Reed Hastings is there, checkbook in hand. But as this latest Netflix exodus shows, not everyone is thrilled with his political activism bleeding into their entertainment subscriptions.
Congrats to Kamala Harris — now it is time to win
— Reed Hastings (@reedhastings) July 23, 2024
