Ted Sarandos (Shutterstock image)
Ted Sarandos Downplays Trump’s Call For Netflix to Fire Board Member Susan Rice
February 23, 2026
Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos Feb. 23 downplayed threats made over the weekend by President Trump that the streamer fire board member Susan Rice over her negative comments about him and his administration on a third-party podcast.
Appearing on BBC Radio’s “Today” show, Sarandos, who was in London attending the annual BAFTA Awards, was asked about Trump’s social media post — made after right-wing influencer Laura Loomer posted comments Rice, who was the former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations in the Obama Administration, made on Preet Bharara’s podcast, “Stay Tuned for Preet” — and how they might impact the streamer’s $82.7 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming and studio assets.
“This is a business deal,” Sarandos told the BBC. “It’s not a political deal. This deal is run by the Department of Justice in the U.S. and regulators throughout Europe and around the world.”
Rice had said that U.S. companies cozying up to Trump might see an undisclosed backlash when the political tide turns.
“For those that decided that they would act in their perceived very narrow self interest, which I would underscore as very short-term self-interest, and take a knee to Trump. I think they are now starting to realize, ‘Wait a minute. This is not popular. Trump is not popular,’” Rice said.
Loomer, in her post, alleged that “anti-American, WOKE” Netflix acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming and studio assets would give former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama a bigger platform for their “upcoming witch hunts against Trump.”
Netflix has a production deal with the Obamas’ Higher Ground Productions content company, whose recent titles on the streamer include Fatherhood with Kevin Hart; “The Later Daters” reality romance show; the sci-fi drama Leave the World Behind, starring Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawk; and “Our Great National Parks,” among others.
When pressed about Trump’s threat that Netflix not firing Rice could lead to the streaming giant “pay[ing] the consequences,” presumably in its quest to acquire WBD, Sarandos reiterated that the WBD-board’s accepted $82.7 billion offer would grow the digital entertainment market, while sustaining the existing exhibition industry.
“[Trump] likes to do a lot of things on social media,” Sarandos said.
“This is a vertical merger,” he added. “We’re buying a movie studio and a distribution entity that we don’t currently have — we’ll be adding to the market, where Paramount has committed that they’re going to cut $6 billion out of the business right away. This industry will be much smaller under that ownership than it would be under the Netflix version.”
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