On Wednesday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk responded to the news that Netflix had less-than-expected first-quarter earnings and that lost subscribers for the first time in more than a decade, by slamming the streaming giant as being virulently too “woke”.
“The woke mind virus is making Netflix unwatchable,” Musk, the richest man in the world, tweeted on his personal account.
Musk’s tweet prompted immediate celebration from right-wing commenters who appear to have adopted Musk as their new hero.
Most notably, he began receiving a flood of support in the comments encouraging him to offer to buy Netflix as he is doing with Twitter.
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However, critics slammed the Tesla CEO for not understanding what “woke” means.
Check some of the highlights below:
The woke mind virus is making Netflix unwatchable
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 20, 2022
You gonna buy Netflix too? 👀😅
— Daithí Ó hUaithne (@DaithiOhUaithne) April 20, 2022
Woke mind virus is the biggest threat to the civilization
— Pranay Pathole (@PPathole) April 20, 2022
The woke mind virus is making virtually all mainstream entertainment unpleasant and not enjoyable.
— Five Times August (@FiveTimesAugust) April 20, 2022
Elon buy netflix next plz, woke nonsense is ruining so many good TV Shows and movies
— Jack Mercer (@JackMercer67) April 20, 2022
Awww shit @elonmusk is about to buy Netflix.
— Taylor Rickey (@TaxIsTheft1) April 20, 2022
Here’s how critics responded:
That escalated quickly from "there's shows I don't like on Netflix" to "the downfall of civilisation". Using "woke" unironically is pretty cringey and I'd you're paying attention to what's actually going in in the world its not the "woke" banning books or demonising minorities.
— Mike Edwards (@spacebeard) April 20, 2022
You make it very hard to support or even defend you when you make statements like this.
"Woke" is not a slur. It's the capacity for empathy.
— Julian Klappenbach (@jklappenbach) April 20, 2022
What exactly is that? Republicans are railing against people and companies who are against racism and sexism and calling it woke. What does that say about them?
— Jay (@JazzyJ87283918) April 20, 2022
I'll take that as a compliment, thanks Elon.
Definition of Woke – "alert to injustice in society, especially racism."
Are you going to buy Netflix next because they're too woke?
Is this all to distract investors from Giga Shanghai not being open? (I'm a TSLA shareholder).
— 🌊🌱🌏 Graham Klerks 🇦🇺🇪🇺🇬🇧🇺🇦 (@GrahamKlerks) April 20, 2022
You mean you don't enjoy Viking shows where the biggest/baddest warrior is a woman (eye-roll — no, those didn't actually exist); or horror films that turn out to be actually be social justice commentary; or shows that make 'cutesy' references to devil (Sabrina)?
— A.J. Delgado (@AJDelgado13) April 20, 2022
now I understand why Elon wants to buy Twitter, it's the best place for him to basically liquidate people's portfolios
— coinkid (@coinkid69) April 21, 2022
You have an issue with woke? pic.twitter.com/3soCjgyJbP
— Wilki (@wilkimom) April 20, 2022
Define woke, genius.
Since you can't, I'll let @MerriamWebster do it for you. pic.twitter.com/T0kCh6m8tj
— 🇺🇦 🌻The Pro-Democracy Carrie Sweet🌻🇺🇦 (@CarrieSweet2017) April 20, 2022
So how do you explain Disney Plus adding so many subscribers? Aren't they a bit more "woke" than Netflix?
— Frieza (@BigMatt848) April 20, 2022
“Woke” means antiracist.
Turning it into a negative is, by definition, racist.
This is not complicated.
— Lucas Hartmann (@HappyEnginerd) April 21, 2022
