Netflix co-founder and chairman Reed Hastings has endorsed vice president Kamala Harris in the presidential race and reportedly made a considerable donation to support her campaign. Many reports claimed this perhaps triggered a spike in cancelations of Netflix subscription, Bloomberg reported that Netflix’s churn rate, the percentage of subscribers who cancel their service over a given period almost tripled in the US after Hastings’ endorsement.
Fox News reported that the supporters of former president Trump called on conservatives to cancel their subscriptions after Hastings endorsed Harris on X and revealed a large sum of his donation in July. “Congrats to Kamala Harris — now it is time to win,” Hastings posted on July 23 after Joe Biden opted out of the race. He then revealed that he donated $7million to a super PAC backing her campaign — in his biggest donation in support of a single candidate.
Shortly after Hastings’ endorsement, fans of Donald Trump began urging people to drop the service. Some posted photos showing they had closed their accounts alongside the hashtag #CancelNetflix.
Three days after the endorsement, July 26 was the single worst day for Netflix cancelations this year. After July 29, daily cancellations returned to normal levels and have remained stable since then. Hastings is a longtime Democratic donor and was one of the notable figures to call on President Biden to step down after his debate debacle. “Biden needs to step aside to allow a vigorous Democratic leader to beat Trump and keep us safe and prosperous,” Hastings wrote in an email obtained by the New York Times.
Hastings, along with his wife Patty Quillin, have been prominent donors to the Democratic Party, particularly in California. In 2021, Hastings donated approximately $3 million to a committee created to stop a recall effort against Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif.