Why conservatives should applaud Netflix

Mention Netflix to your average GOP voter, and you’ll likely get a snort, if not words unfit for a family publication.

Isn’t that the woke streaming service behind “He’s Expecting,” the ghastly “Cuties,” and endless, virtue-signaling originals?

And let’s not forget Netflix’s massive deal with the Obamas, which recently produced a thriller during which the key characters share their distrust of white people.

All of the above is true. (Although the latter film, “Leave the World Behind,” is better than its angriest critics suggest.)

But there’s another side to Netflix: champion of controversial comedy.

It all started in the waning months of 2021. Netflix released “The Closer,” the latest special from stand-up king Dave Chappelle. It featured several gags aimed at the trans community — as well as a touching ode to a late trans comic Chappelle befriended years earlier.

Those on the left ignored the latter and trained its considerable firepower on the former. "How dare Chappelle tell trans jokes?" they cried. And then they marched.

Some Netflix employees protested their bosses in plain sight. The media raged against Chappelle, and it looked as if Netflix would give in to the mob. Company CEO Ted Sarandos briefly backpedaled by criticizing his own company’s initial response to the outcry.

"I had a group of employees who were definitely feeling pain and hurt from a decision we made. And I think that needs to be acknowledged up front before you get into the nuts and bolts of anything … I didn’t do that. That was uncharacteristic for me, and it was moving fast and we were trying to answer some really specific questions that were floating. We landed with some things that were much more blanket and matter-of-fact that are not at all accurate.”

It wouldn’t be the first time a corporate behemoth gave in to the mob or blindly did its bidding.

Except Netflix's chairman of the board of directors, Reed Hastings, ensured that didn’t happen.

“That special was one of the most entertaining watch specials we’ve ever had. We would do it again and again.”

Even better? Netflix HQ told internal critics they could find another place to work if they disagreed with its programming.

“If you’d find it hard to support our content breadth, Netflix may not be the best place for you.”

Simple. Direct. Definitive. And time has proven Hastings to be a man of his word.

A few months after this ultimatum, Netflix debuted a special by “right wing” comic (and frequent Joe Rogan guest) Tim Dillon. It closed out 2022 with Sebastian Maniscalco’s “Is It Me,” which found the usually apolitical performer getting in a few digs at woke schooling.

In 2023, the streamer threw its weight behind Shane Gillis. The success of the rising star’s “Beautiful Dogs” showed that Gillis’ pre-emptive firing by “Saturday Night Live” over “racist and homophobic slurs” was just the career boost he needed.

Last month, Netflix gave free reign to young sensation Matt Rife, who opened his special “Natural Selection” with a crude, limit-testing domestic abuse gag. The usual suspects raged, but Netflix declined to respond to the micro-controversy.

Been there, survived that.

Most recently, Netflix unveiled new specials from both Ricky Gervais and Chappelle, each featuring the kind of unwoke barbs that would make many a streamer fear the inevitable backlash.

The former’s “Armageddon” takes aim at leftist zealots of all stripes, from those policing “cultural appropriation” and pushing open borders to the increasingly unhinged gender ideologues.

In “The Dreamer,” Chappell tells an elaborate tale of meeting Jim Carrey on the set of “Man on the Moon” and being forced to pretend the method-acting funnyman really was Andy Kaufmann. The punchline? “That’s how trans people make me feel.”

In both cases, the media raged, as did social media progressives. But the conflagrations quickly died down when Netflix refused to supply them with any oxygen, once again demonstrating that the best way to get the woke mob to move on is to let them know you won’t be cowed.

It’s a lesson podcaster Adam Carolla swears by, and he’s been speaking freely for years without calls for his cancellation.

When a powerful company like Netflix shows such a stiff spine, the message to the laughter police is even clearer.

Imagine if the company had canceled Chappelle in 2021 and yanked “The Closer” from its streaming library. It’s likely that the freshly emboldened woke movement, smelling blood, would have tracked down other comedians for lesser “offenses.”

Conservatives have every right to disdain Netflix’s terrible programming choices, not to mention its deal with the Obamas.

But credit where it’s due. Is there another major Hollywood brand with such a laissez-faire approach to speech? To quote an album title from a more wild and crazy time, comedy is not pretty. For all its flaws, Netflix is the one major streaming platform willing to take this to heart.