Netflix Stock On Retail's Radar As Executive's Charlie Kirk Remarks Spark Backlash, Musk Joins Cancellation Wave

Netflix shares fell 1.5% in early premarket trading on Wednesday, with retail investors' views tracking lower, as backlash over the remarks of a Netflix TV show creator regarding Charlie Kirk's assassination blew up into calls for canceling the streaming service's subscription.

A general negativity sentiment among market participants as the U.S. entered a government shutdown is also likely contributing to the stock move. 

An old post by Hamish Steele, the creator of the animated series "Dead End: Paranormal Park," is resurfacing in online discussions. In response to an X post by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer offering condolences on the day of activist Kirk's assassination at a Utah college, Steele allegedly questioned Starmer's comment, calling Kirk a "d***head* and "ranzom nazi."

Stocktwits could not locate his reply on the X thread.

Meanwhile, Steele's show, which has LGBTQ+ characters, has suddenly drawn flak. Critics, especially from conservative circles, argue that such themes, combined with the inflammatory posts, are inappropriate for children, according to media reports.

On Wednesday, billionaire Elon Musk jumped in on the issue. "Cancel Netflix for the health of your kids," he posted, with another user's post showing an image with Netflix as a Trojan horse entering wooden gates depicted as "your kids," a reference to the 2004 movie "Troy."

In a separate post, Musk reshared a post saying that the show is "pushing pro-transgender on children," with his comment: "This is not ok."

On Stocktwits, the NFLX ticker trended among the top 10 equities, with user comments like "dump this woke trash!!!" and "bloodbath week coming soon." The retail sentiment for the stock dropped to ‘bearish’ as of early Wednesday, from ‘neutral’ the previous day.

As of the last close, Netflix shares are up 34.5% year-to-date.

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.

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