Variety reports conservatives and transphobes are urging each other on X (formerly Twitter) to cancel their Netflix subscriptions, after discovering the existence of Dead End: Paranormal Park, an animated children’s series that features a trans protagonist. The supernatural comedy, created by Hamish Steele and based on his graphic novel series DeadEndia, ran for two seasons (totaling 20 episodes) in 2022, before being canceled by the streamer.
This is the clip from Dead End Paranormal Park that is circulating around right wing spaces because it's "pushing transgenderism on kids". Imagine being upset by this.
— Transphobes Can't Read (@lordaslan.bsky.social) 2025-10-01T09:21:08.920Z
Hate accounts like Gays Against Groomers and Libs of TikTok began the calls for a boycott by posting a clip from the show where hero Barney (voiced by transgender actor Zach Barack) mentions he is trans. Owner Elon Musk responded by posting, “This is not okay,” and “Cancel Netflix for the health of your kids,” while sharing posts from others demanding people cancel their subscriptions. The South African billionaire has been a keen transphobe, having said his transgender daughter Vivian Jenna Wilson was “killed by the woke mind virus” for living her truth.
Netflix did not respond to a request for comment from Variety, while Steele stated yesterday (in subsequently deleted Bluesky posts) that while he “found it all quite funny, [and] really appreciat[ed] everyone who has reached out,” he had begun to receive “extremely nasty, weird, homophobic and antisemitic emails,” and that it was “getting a little scary.” He also mentioned receiving abuse on Instagram from Charlie Kirk fans, and later shared it had become so much worse that he would be on the “down low” from social media for the time being.
Speaking of Kirk, the attempted boycott coincides with the recent failure to have Jimmy Kimmel Live! canceled, after the talk show host was briefly suspended over comments about the right exploiting the propagandist’s assassination. Musk’s attempt to position himself as a defender of children from LGBTQ-inclusive “groomers,” meanwhile, comes after he was named in documents released by Congressional Democrats from the estate of the late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, and in the wake of his father, Errol Musk, being accused of sexually abusing his children in a New York Times article.
Dead End remains available to stream on Netflix, and you can also support Steele by subscribing to his newsletter or Patreon, as well as by purchasing his books (including the DeadEndia trilogy) from his store. His latest book, Go-Man: Champion of Earth, is available now from Union Square Kids.
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