Netflix is facing a significant backlash in late September 2025 after renewed controversy erupted over its animated series Dead End: Paranormal Park. The criticism centers on the show's transgender themes, which critics claim are inappropriate for its young target audience, and the creator Hamish Steele's alleged social media comments celebrating the assassination of conservative commentator and TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk.
The controversy, which began this week has led to a wave of subscription cancellations, with high-profile figures like Tesla CEO Elon Musk joining the boycott. The incident has become a major flashpoint in the ongoing cultural debate over representation in children's media and online discourse.
Musk publicly on Tuesday, announced he had canceled his Netflix subscription, amplifying a viral post from the conservative watchdog account Libs of TikTok. Musk first shared a post stating, "This is not ok," in reference to the show's content. When former Department of Energy staffer Matt Van Swol posted, "Just cancelled my Netflix subscription," The X owner replied with a single word: "Same." This simple endorsement amplified the boycott, with thousands of users following suit and sharing their own cancellation notices online.
The Tesla chief further escalated the situation by directly calling the show's creator, Hamish Steele, a "groomer" in a post on X, a term that has become highly charged in debates over LGBTQ+ content for children.
Dead End: Paranormal Park, is an animated horror-comedy series that premiered on Netflix in June 2022. The show, which was canceled after two seasons in 2023, follows two teenagers, Barney, a transgender boy, and Norma, an autistic Pakistani-American girl, who work at a haunted theme park and battle supernatural forces.
The specific scene that ignited the latest firestorm, highlighted by Libs of TikTok, is from Season 2, Episode 9. In it, the character Barney comes out to his friend Norma, saying, "It's me. I'm trans... And being here, it's like a whole new place. I can just be Barney."
Critics argue that this storyline, which deals with a child's gender identity and family acceptance, is inappropriate for a show marketed to children as young as seven years old. Despite its cancellation, Netflix continues to promote the show on its platform, which has fueled the anger of critics who feel the company is still profiting from and endorsing its content.
The show's creator, Steele, who identifies as gay and uses he/they pronouns made inflammatory comments on the social media platform BlueSky following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk on September 10, 2025.
Screenshots, widely circulated by Libs of TikTok and other accounts, show Steele allegedly writing, "Why the fuck are you even commenting on this, dickhead? You sympathy for any of the families being slaughtered by your weapons but a random nazi gets shot and its a public statement. You're such a fucking evil shit."
This alleged celebration of a political assassination, combined with his role in creating a show with LGBTQ+ themes for children, has made Steele a primary target of the outrage. Following the backlash, Steele reportedly made his social media accounts private.
The controversy first ignited when Chaya Raichik, the operator of the influential Libs of TikTok social media account posted a video clip of the scene from Dead End: Paranormal Park with the caption, "OMG. Dead End Paranormal Park, a show on Netflix, is pushing pro-transgender on CHILDREN... Parents- BEWARE." This post, which was viewed millions of times, directly linked the show's content to Steele's alleged comments about Kirk, highlighting corporate complicity in both ideological indoctrination and the glorification of violence.
Raichik's call to action, "We will not support a company who pushes transgenderism on kids and employs someone who celebrates murder," became a rallying cry. The online reaction has been massive, with the hashtag #CancelNetflix trending. Social media users have posted screenshots of their canceled subscriptions.
