Elon Musk is throwing his weight around on social media again, only this time he’s targeting a Netflix animated series that was canceled more than two years ago.
The Netflix series Dead End: Paranormal Park is currently in the middle of a conservative social media storm after Musk announced he was canceling his Netflix subscription because of a trans character in the old cartoon.
Musk and other MAGA supporters have threatened to cancel their subscriptions, citing both their claim that the show is “grooming” kids by featuring a transgender protagonist and alleged screenshots of Dead End: Paranormal Park creator Hamish Steele celebrating Charlie Kirk’s death.
Steele has denied writing the controversial post, but that hasn’t stopped the flurry of conservatives who have harassed the creator until he took his X account private and wrote that he would be “on the down low for the foreseeable” on BlueSky.
But with unverifiable screenshots going viral and AI political videos being frequently mistaken for real on social media, it’s easy to get confused about what is real and what’s fake. Here’s what we know so far.
Who is Hamish Steele?
Steele is a gay animation director and illustrator who worked for the BBC, Cartoon Network, Disney, and Nickelodeon. He is best known for creating Dead End: Paranormal Park for Netflix, the graphic novel series DeadEndia, and the Go-Man: Champion of Earth comic book.
Back in 2023, Steele wrote a guest post for PRIDE where he admitted that writing a queer, autistic character on Dead End: Paranormal Park helped him accept his own neurodivergence and rough teen years. “It was the writing of the TV show which led me to seek an official diagnosis,” he wrote.
What is 'Dead End: Paranormal Park'?
Based on Steele’s horror-comedy graphic novels DeadEndia and web short Dead End, Dead End: Paranormal Park follows two teens, Barney Guttman and Norma Khan, and their talking dog, Pugsley. In the series, Barney, a trans boy and Norma, an autistic Pakistani-American girl, apply for summer jobs at a haunted house theme park without knowing that it’s actually haunted, then they have to balance their new summer job while battling supernatural forces.
The Netflix animated series ran for two seasons before ultimately being canceled in January 2023. Steele revealed on X that they had already done a writer’s room for season 3 and had plans to give the characters “the proper ending they deserve,” but that “the powers that be don’t want any more.”
“And I want to emphasize my gratitude to Netflix for commissioning the show and for giving us the freedom to tell this story,” he continued. "We made history together, and I couldn’t be prouder of those twenty episodes and every single member of our crew.”
What did he say about Charlie Kirk?
Supposed screenshots of a post made by Steele after Kirk’s death drew fierce criticism from conservatives on X, despite Steele denying that he made the post.
“Our sympathy for any of the families being slaughtered by your own weapons but a random Nazi gets shot and it's a public statement,” the screenshot read.
The comment is allegedly a response to UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s social media statement, sending his condolences to Kirk’s family and writing that “there can be no justification for political violence.”
PRIDE has not been able to locate Steel’s alleged reply on X and cannot independently verify that Steele ever wrote a response to Starmer’s post or called Kirk a “Nazi.”
PRIDE reached out to Hamish Steele for comment, but hadn’t heard back at the time of publication.
Why is Elon Musk calling for a Netflix boycott?
Musk and other MAGA conservatives are announcing they are cancelling their Netflix subscriptions because of a backlash over Dead End: Paranormal Park’s trans character and the creators alleged comments about Kirk’s death.
On September 29, Musk wrote “This is not ok” when reposting the anti-trans alt-right account Libs of TikTok’s post about the animated series that was canceled years ago. “OMG. Dead End Paranormal Park, a show on Netflix, is pushing pro-transgender on CHILDREN,” the post reads. “This show is advertised for 7-YEAR-OLDS.” The account also commented on it’s own post, claiming the show is “grooming kids.”
The post went viral and Republicans immediately started posting that they were canceling their Netflix accounts. On Wednesday, Musk reposted another users image that depicts Nefltix as a Trojan horse labeled “transgender woke agenda” and the gated Troy as “your kids,” captioning the post, “Cancel Netflix for the health of your kids.”
He also reposted calls to boycott the streaming bohemouth, and reposted a claim that the kid’s cartoon CoComelon is “demonic” because it features “interracial gay dads” who are raising their “baby as transgender.”
Is Netflix’s stock actually tanking?
Amid the conservative backlash to Dead End: Paranormal Park and the creator, Netflix’s shares fell 1.5% in early premarket trading on Wednesday. The negative sentiment about the streaming service and calls to cancel subscriptions could have led to the drop, but according to Stockwits, the “government shutdown is also likely contributing to the stock move.”
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