Elon Musk Says ‘Woke Mind Virus’ Has Made Netflix Unwatchable

Elon Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla and Space X, recently trolled Netflix for having a “woke mind virus,” causing the streaming service to become unwatchable as the company’s shares took a deep nosedive.

Musk went on Twitter to weigh in on Netflix’s subscriber loss and share what he believes is causing it. Several of his followers also espoused the same logic and shared that the “woke mind virus” is spreading past Netflix.

Read on to find out more.

During its first-quarter 2022 earnings release, Netflix announced that it had lost 200,000 subscribers in its first quarter and has estimated that it will lose another 2 million subscribers in its second quarter. The company had previously reported in January that it had a total of 221.84 million subscribers at the end of 2021.

From January until its earnings release, its subscribers reduced to 221.64 million. Following the announcement of the loss of its subscribers, Netflix’s stock prices crashed to a record four-year low.

By Wednesday morning, before the stock market opened for business, the company’s shares fell by 27%. The Wall Street Journal also reported that Netflix’s shares recorded their worst day in almost a decade. Many users went on Twitter to criticize the company and claim its price increase was a contributing factor.

After Slashdot tweeted the news about Netflix’s loss of subscribers and its shares falling by more than 20%, Musk quoted their tweet with “The woke mind virus is making Netflix unwatchable.”

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1516600269899026432?s=20&t=OV7B2KOPtVTBJPs9XhkKaA

The Billionaire, however, did not give more insight into the tweet or explain how “the woke mind virus” is killing the streaming giant. He did agree with one follower who replied to his tweet claiming that the “woke mind virus is the biggest threat to the civilization.”

Another follower commented under Musk’s tweet, “Not just Netflix. Movies in general, video games, TV, it’s all infested with current year trend woke garbage for fear of offending a green-haired freak next to the ban button. Nothing original anymore at all, except for media coming out of places like Japan or Korea, ironically.” Musk also responded and said, “True.”

In another statement, Reed Hastings, the co-CEO of Netflix, blamed the company’s loss of subscribers on “great competition,” alluding to the growth of rival streaming competitors such as Amazon Prime, HBO Max, and Disney+. The company also estimated that more than 100 million people are streaming for free with shared passwords.

In a letter Netflix wrote to its shareholders, it said, “Account sharing as a percentage of our paying membership hasn’t changed much over the years, but, coupled with [the slowing pace of broadband and connected TV adoption] means it’s harder to grow membership in many markets- an issue that was obscured by our COVID growth.”

The company also added that it is now shifting its focus onto how “best to monetize sharing” and called it “a big opportunity as these households are already watching Netflix and enjoying our service.”

Despite Musk taking the opportunity to throw shade at Netflix for its subscriber loss and shares price reduction, he actually has a working relationship with the streaming company and several projects on the platform.

A Netflix documentary series titled “Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission to Space” delves into Musk’s SpaceX Inspiration4 mission, and another documentary titled “Return to Space” delves into Musk’s aerospace company SpaceX.

Asides from his trolling of Netflix, Musk was also recently in the headlines for his bid to buy Twitter. He is currently working with investment bank Morgan Stanley to secure the funding for his $46.5 billion bid to buy the social media app and take it private. He has been openly critical of what he calls the Big Tech’s trend of censoring free speech.