As Netflix jumped into the race to acquire Hollywood distributor Warner Bros., U.S. President Donald Trump demanded that Netflix oust Susan Rice, the former White House national security adviser, from its board. She held key posts in the Obama and Biden administrations.
On the 21st (local time), President Trump wrote on the social media platform Truth Social, "Netflix must immediately fire the racist and 'Trump Deranged' Susan Rice. Otherwise, it will pay a price." He called Rice, a confidant of Obama and Biden, a "political henchman."
Netflix is pushing a $72 billion (about 106 trillion won) merger and acquisition deal with Warner Bros. For the acquisition to go through, it must receive final approval from the U.S. Department of Justice, which determines whether the deal is anti-competitive.
Rice recently appeared on a podcast and said that if the Democratic Party returns to power, it should not forgive or forget corporations that knelt to Trump. She said, "Whether it is a law firm, a university, a media outlet, a large corporation, or big tech, we must act from a long-term perspective, not a harmful short-term fight like now."
Warner Bros. is a leading Hollywood studio that made the Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, Superman, The Matrix, and Batman series. As the film production environment was reorganized around over-the-top (OTT) services, it began to decline.
Paramount has also joined the "Warner Bros. acquisition race." Paramount has proposed a sale price of $77.9 billion (about 113 trillion won), including other channels such as CNN that Netflix did not seek to buy. Netflix has not responded to the president's remarks.
During the Obama administration, Rice served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and national security adviser, and under the Biden administration she served as chairperson of the White House Domestic Policy Council (DPC). She was a Netflix director from 2018 to 2021, during Trump's first term. After stepping down as DPC chairperson, she returned as a Netflix director in 2023.