Donald Trump appeared on Truth Social on Saturday and demanded that Netflix “immediately” fire its board member Susan Rice, a former ambassador to the United Nations, or “pay the consequences.” His comments come as the streaming giant is just weeks away from acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery for $83 billion.
“Netflix must fire Trump’s racist and deranged Susan Rice immediately or pay the price,” Trump said. “She has no talent or skill. Purely a political hack! Her power is gone and will never return. How much is she being paid? For what? Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DJT.”
Netflix did not immediately respond to Variety’s request for comment.
President Trump’s outrage stems from Rice’s comments on Preet Bharara’s “Stay Tuned with Peet” podcast. Rice said in an interview that if Democrats win the midterm elections, she expects there will be “accountability challenges” for companies that circumvented regulations under the Trump administration.
Rice said, “If these companies think that if Democrats come back in power, they’re going to play by the old rules and say, ‘Oh, I don’t care. We’ll forgive all the people that you fired, all the policies and principles that you violated, and, you know, all the laws that you circumvented,’ I think they’re going to do something else again.”
In a post on TruthSocial, President Trump linked to far-right activist LaRua Loomer’s She also predicted that if Netflix were allowed to acquire Warner Bros., “a positive message from Barack Hussein Obama and his anti-white racist wife Michelle about the Democratic Party’s upcoming witch hunt against Trump would likely be broadcast to all streaming services.”
“The Netflix-Warner Bros. merger will create a streaming monopoly and the Obamas will have a significant stake in it,” she added. “President Trump must end the Netflix-Warner Bros. merger now.”
In early February, President Trump told NBC that he thought he “shouldn’t be involved” in the Netflix-Warner Bros. deal, but appears to have reversed that position.
“I have to say, I guess I’m considered a very powerful president,” Trump said at the time, according to an NBC News transcript.
Netflix is currently set to acquire Warner Bros. Studios and HBO Max in a deal worth $83 billion. February 17th, W.B. The second-place applicant, Paramount Skydance, was given a seven-day deliberation period to give it one last push to come up with a stronger proposal. On March 20th, Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders will vote on the Netflix acquisition.
