Republican Representative Threatens Netflix Over Trans Character

A congressman threatened to make Netflix executives testify following uproar over a trans character in an animated show.

According to PinkNews, Tennessee Republican Tim Burchett appeared on a right-wing podcast speaking about a viral clip of the trans character, Barney, from the animated show, Dead End: Paranormal Park. He was asked why he was in favor of Netflix’s executives testifying as a response.

He claims, “Here’s what I want to do on this one, because the First Amendment and all that is involved in it. I’m gonna follow up with my folks after we get off. I’m gonna call them and say, ‘Which committee can they be brought in front of?'” He continues, “We need to find out what their agenda is and why they’re pushing this stuff because from what I understand, that … is the number-one-rated cartoon.”

Burchett then regurgitated the same right-wing “brainwashing” transgenderism spiel that we’ve heard a million times: “That is grooming; that is the worst of the worst because they’re taking young minds, and they know they can do that.”

Elon Musk responded to the trans inclusion of Dead End: Paranormal Park by publicly throwing a hissy-fit and cancelling his Netflix subscription—and calling for all his lackeys to do the same. However, the voice of Barney, and openly transgender actor, Zach Barack came out to say, “Kids and parents have told me it saved their lives!!”

According to the Human Rights Campaign, positive trans visibility in the media is incredibly important for reducing stigma, and helping change minds about the trans community. Without any (even slight) exposure to trans people, cisgender people will continue fabricating exaggerated images of what trans people are in their heads, thus peddling the same anti-trans ideology that has plagued this country since the Trump Administration. Without representation, there is no nuance.

Despite all of this uproar, the show has been cancelled for over two years now, and has been cited as a subtlety educational, but multi-faceted, human story.