Co-CEO, President & Director, Netflix Inc
Josh Hawley Explodes at Netflix CEO Over ‘Woke Agenda’ Claims
A fiery Senate Judiciary Committee hearing erupted as Josh Hawley confronted Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos over the proposed Netflix–Warner Bros. merger, labor practices, and controversial children’s programming.
Hawley pressed Sarandos on union jobs, residual payments, and accusations that Netflix promotes “transgender ideology” in children’s content. The hearing featured tense back-and-forth moments, with Hawley accusing Netflix of pursuing an ideological agenda and warning against the rise of a “streaming monopolist.” Sarandos defended Netflix’s approach, saying the platform offers diverse s...
About Theodore Sarandos
During Netflix’s Q2 2026 earnings interview on July 17, 2026, Sarandos addressed the company’s financial results, noting that revenue of $12.56 billion slightly missed Wall Street expectations of $12.59 billion, while earnings per share of $0.80 beat the consensus estimate of $0.70. He discussed the company’s approach to a potential free, ad-supported offering, stating that while it “could make sense in some markets,” Netflix has “no near-term plans to launch something” due to concerns about cannibalizing paid tiers. Sarandos also highlighted the use of generative AI in production, saying that AI-enhanced footage in one series was “produced twice as fast and at half the cost of previous options,” and noted that GenAI workflows have been used in roughly 300 Netflix titles, primarily in post-production. In a June 2026 interview on the Prof G Markets podcast, Sarandos commented on the impact of AI on the entertainment industry, stating that he believes its disruptive potential is “overestimated” and that creators have shifted from opposing AI to using tools like Claude as a “writing partner.” He also discussed the high cost of production in California, saying the state “has not been competitive for production” and that Los Angeles is “a very difficult, very expensive place to work” for film and television. Regarding the company’s acquisition strategy, Sarandos described Netflix as “primarily builders not buyers,” and said that while the company considered Warner Bros. as a “once in a generation asset,” it has a “very high bar” for major M&A.
Transcript (39 segments)
J
Josh Hawley0:00
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for calling this hearing. Welcome to the witnesses. Mr. Sarandos, if I could just start with you, let's continue to talk a little bit about the labor impacts here if we could. How many US-based employees does Netflix currently employ? Do you know?
T
Theodore Sarandos0:13
About 10,000.
J
Josh Hawley0:13
Yeah. What about in production roles?
T
Theodore Sarandos0:16
Well, in the LA over the last, it's a fluid number, but we've had about 155,000 production jobs on our originals at any given time. I don't know the number exactly. Sorry. I can follow back with your staff, though. Warner Brothers, how many US production jobs?
J
Josh Hawley0:30
I don't have the exact number, but it would be, I would think, in the 8,000 range. Okay. Here's my question. If this merger goes through, what's your projection about the amount of domestic production, say two years from now? Is it going to be static? Is it going to decline?
T
Theodore Sarandos0:49
It's going to, our production is going to increase. Domestic production to increase. Most of our production is domestic and it will continue to increase. We've recently forecast our content spend independent of this deal to grow to $20 billion. And those, you know, that's a combination of licensing, producing. Now those licensing dollars compel production as well. That's why it's hard to get an exact number.
J
Josh Hawley1:15
Let me show you the data here about US production recently. It's the red line here starting from in 2021. You can see it is pretty much straight downward. There's been massive shift in production as I think as Senator Schiff was alluding to just a moment ago. Massive shift in production overseas to other foreign jurisdictions leaving the United States. So will you commit to increasing domestic United States production and domestic United States production jobs? Did I hear you just say you would?
T
Theodore Sarandos1:45
Senator Hawley, absolutely. It's in our business plan, it's in our long-term operating DNA. I will point out, sir, respectfully, that chart is Los Angeles.
J
Josh Hawley1:53
Yeah, but it's reflective. This reflects all of US production. US production is not going up, right?
T
Theodore Sarandos2:01
But some of these jobs have moved.
J
Josh Hawley2:02
It's going down. These jobs have moved to... Yeah, but the overall numbers are going down. And this is exactly the concern of labor. And without objection, Mr. Chairman, I'd like to enter in a statement for the record from the Teamsters who have major concerns about this deal, as does frankly pretty much every segment of labor, Mr. Sarandos. And what they all say is they're worried that you're going to cut residuals, which is effectively payments. You're going to cut production jobs. So, let's just go through a few commitments here. Will you commit to using union labor for all domestic shoots?
T
Theodore Sarandos2:31
We do use union labor.
J
Josh Hawley2:32
Will you commit to using it in the future for all of your domestic shoots if this deal goes through?
T
Theodore Sarandos2:36
Senator Hawley, we do use, this is the most unionized industry in America and we use union labor on all our productions.
J
Josh Hawley2:41
And you're going to going forward? I'm looking for a commitment.
T
Theodore Sarandos2:44
You have my commitment.
J
Josh Hawley2:45
Will you commit to a 45-day or longer theatrical release window for major Warner Brothers films?
T
Theodore Sarandos2:49
Senator Hawley, I just said that I would do that under oath. So, yes.
J
Josh Hawley2:53
Good. And will you commit to fairly compensating your workers in the industry with residual payments?
T
Theodore Sarandos2:58
Well, top of market payment has been Netflix business philosophy since we started operating over 20 years.
J
Josh Hawley3:03
Listen, what you have been routinely accused of compressing and reducing residuals. It's one of the biggest objections to labor to this deal. So, let's see if you can lay that to rest today. Will you commit to full residuals?
T
Theodore Sarandos3:16
Senator Hawley, I would like to tell you this is a very complicated answer because we prepay.
J
Josh Hawley3:22
That's usually on the way to no. That's usually a way of saying no. So I'm looking for yes.
T
Theodore Sarandos3:25
Senator, I understand that this is not a yes or no answer because...
J
Josh Hawley3:28
It kind of is though.
T
Theodore Sarandos3:29
It kind of isn't because and we were going to sit down with the unions...
J
Josh Hawley3:32
You're disappointing me.
T
Theodore Sarandos3:33
Starting in the next few days, sir. We're sitting down with the unions for new contract talks that start actually in three days.
J
Josh Hawley3:38
This is a complicated long no. I would really hope it would be yes. Okay. Are you asking me to commit to residuals in the traditional form? Because I don't think that applies in many cases. That's why I'm getting there. All right. Well, I think you've got some work to do on that, Mr. Sarandos. And I would hope that you'd reconsider your position. Before my time expires, I want to ask you about something else related to children. Why is it that so much of Netflix content for children promotes a transgender ideology? Almost half of your content for children, I'm talking about minor children now. I'm not talking about teenagers. Minor children promotes a transgender ideology agenda. I was just looking at the data here from your various series. And what concerns me is just two days ago, a jury in New York awarded a former transitioner $2 million because she said that her psychologists and others pressured her into, they pushed on her an ideology that proved to be extremely detrimental. I'm sure you know that in the UK, the National Health Service in the UK has said that they're not going to perform transgender surgeries or any longer so-called gender affirming care for minors, including in counseling, because it is so incredibly detrimental. Our own HHS has come forward with similar findings this past year. Yet, if you turn on Netflix, you'll find that an enormous amount, I say this as a parent with three young children, an enormous amount of your children's programming has this ideology and agenda in it. Is this an advocacy position for Netflix? Is this an ideological commitment you have? I mean, why is this?
T
Theodore Sarandos5:19
Senator Hawley, Netflix has no political agenda of any kind. I would tell you that.
J
Josh Hawley5:22
Well, then why is your children's program so full of this highly sexualized, highly controversial agenda? I don't understand it. It seems strange to me.
T
Theodore Sarandos5:34
Respectfully, sir, it's because it's inaccurate. We have millions of hours of children's programming. I get...
J
Josh Hawley5:40
You're saying it's not there. You don't feature trans characters, trans story lines, trans themes.
T
Theodore Sarandos5:45
I'm saying it's not in your programming. I'm saying we feature a wide variety of stories and programs to meet a wide variety of people's tastes.
J
Josh Hawley5:53
Why does almost half of your children's program feature this highly controversial, highly sexualized material? Why? That just seems strange to me. It can't possibly be a reflection of the population.
T
Theodore Sarandos6:06
Senator, I don't have any idea where that number would come from or what that would be. I don't believe that's been your personal experience, but I can't speak to that.
J
Josh Hawley6:14
Well, what do you mean you don't think it's been my personal experience? You don't think that I monitor what my children watch on your... Here's what I tell you what my personal experience is since you bring it up. My personal experience is that my three children, I can't let them watch anything they want on Netflix. I can't let them watch anything on Netflix unless I preview it because I don't have confidence in what's on your platform. I don't know what they're going to encounter. And I tell you what, I don't want my kids being pushed an agenda about their sexuality or gender identity when I have not had the opportunity first to discuss it with them and to form them in that. And I frankly on behalf of parents around the country, it offends me that Netflix is pushing this content at parents in what seems to be a very coordinated, thought through, planned out agenda in a way that frankly I think undermines parents. Certainly undermines me and my wife. We have to watch every show beforehand before we can let our kids watch it. Now, I don't know. That seems pretty concerning to me. I know you make a gob of money on it and maybe that's the answer, but it just seems to me that it's a disservice to the parents of this country, particularly given what's happening with our youth on this subject.
T
Theodore Sarandos7:20
So, I don't know if I may answer, like I said, we have millions of hours of content on Netflix at any given time. We have state-of-the-art tools for you to manage those choices for your children and to block any title that you might be offended by for any reason. So, this is, we are parents at Netflix as well. We share all your concerns about raising kids and also the ability to raise them as you see fit in your household and anyone else's household as well.
J
Josh Hawley7:46
My concern is that you don't share my values or those of many other American parents and you want the United States government to allow you to become one of the largest, if not the largest streaming monopolist in the world. I think we ought to be concerned about what content you're promoting.