“Bridgerton” Season 5 will feature an interracial “queer love story,” and fans have thoughts.
The popular historical drama has a cult following of fans obsessed with the overall look and feel of the show, but since it airs on Netflix, it was only a matter of time before progressive themes were jammed into Regency-era England. 
The short teaser trailer for Season 5 shows Francesca Bridgerton (Hannah Dodd) and her cousin-in-law, Michaela Stirling (Masali Baduza), standing side by side, almost holding hands. “Next season love begins again,” the text of the video says. 
“Do not fret, dearest readers, for a certain countess shall find love again &#8230; Bridgerton Season 5 is now in production,” the YouTube description says. This will be the first major storyline of a same-sex relationship on the series. 
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Bridgerton Season 5 | Official Announcement | Netflix" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qb79JSVmOJc?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Reactions on social media questioned the decision, especially in terms of historical accuracy.
“Netflix is gonna Netflix …,” one person <a href="https://x.com/TimelessTrvlr/status/2036592179703935153">observed</a>. 
“This show absolutely ruined the books,” another commenter <a href="https://x.com/pitdesi/status/2036525279548788999?s=43">agreed</a>.
“I am sick and tired of Netflix turning everything woke. It really didn’t have to be this way,” a third commenter <a href="https://x.com/AetherRev/status/2036489190251307159">shared</a>.
“The fifth season of Bridgerton spotlights introverted middle daughter Francesca. Two years after losing her beloved husband John, Fran decides to reenter the marriage mart for practical reasons,” the press release says. 
“But when John’s cousin Michaela returns to London to tend to the Kilmartin estate, Fran’s complicated feelings will have her questioning whether to stick to her pragmatic intentions or pursue her inner passions.”
The series is based on books written by Julia Quinn, and in the source material, Francesca’s new flame is a man named Michael. Quinn’s books don’t include same-sex relationships. But because it’s Netflix, that changed in the television adaptation.
“It feels groundbreaking. Obviously, there are a lot of great shows that have depicted queer love. We’re not the first by any means,” series showrunner Jess Brownell said in an <a href="https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/bridgerton-season-5-news-photos-premiere-date">interview</a> published on Tudum. “But to make an entire &#8216;Bridgerton&#8217; season about a sapphic relationship feels huge.”
She added, “It’s going to be a season about queer joy. It is not going to be a season about queer trauma. … We’re having so much fun!”
The actresses also weighed in on the storyline. “[Queer love stories] have traditionally been excluded from things like period dramas — and queer people did exist, have always existed, and will always exist,” Dodd said.
Prior to this, another character, Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson), was portrayed as bisexual. He spent last season in a romantic relationship with a woman, however.

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***
Netflix’s &#8220;Train Dreams&#8221; received four Oscar nominations this year, including Best Picture, and it walked away empty-handed from every one of them. Ironically, that might be the most fitting outcome for a film that does nothing to demand your attention but simply invites you to consider the mundane beauty that permeates even the most ordinary of lives.
In a dopamine-addicted world, where our senses are blitzed by ever-louder and ever-shorter demands for our attention, &#8220;Train Dreams&#8221; functions like an antidote for what ails us. It is an ode to the slow work of beauty and its power to transform the human heart. 
There is a scene early in the film where the protagonist, Robert Grainier (Joel Edgerton), and his wife, Gladys (Felicity Jones), walk to the edge of the Moyie River and begin laying stones in the dirt. Not a foundation — not yet. Just markers. Here is where the walls will go. Here is where the bed will be. Here, where the window faces east, is where the morning light will find them. Two people with nothing but timber and a river and each other, mapping out with rocks a future home that only exists in their shared dreams of a life together.
As the viewer, you’re invited to sit there with them in that moment and consider your own little slice of ordinary life. There is no Avengers-level threat to the multiverse. No high-octane pulsing synth or heart-pounding drums in the soundtrack. Not an ounce of the heavy-handed political preachiness we’ve become far too accustomed to either. Just the story of a simple day laborer in the early 20th-century Pacific Northwest as he makes his way through the joys and sorrows of an ordinary life in a world that is both beautiful and broken.
Edgerton’s character loses his wife, his daughter, his cabin, and his sense of place in a world accelerating past him, and yet this immense Job-like tragedy is juxtaposed against frame after frame of flawless natural beauty. Viewers could pause at any moment in the film and gaze at each frame as a distinct work of art.
That might even be an experiment worth trying because this is exactly the kind of spiritual exercise that &#8220;Train Dreams&#8221; invites us to do. Slow down, pay attention to the moment, and receive life, even with its troubles, as the gift that it is. Nick Cave — who wrote the film&#8217;s Oscar-nominated song — <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DSDHK3GkUET/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=embed_video_watch_again">described the world</a> that director Clint Bentley brought to life out of a Denis Johnson novella as a &#8220;world exploding all around with strange and beautiful and wonderful things.” 
 
That&#8217;s the paradox the film holds without flinching. Robert’s life is small by every metric the modern world and most Hollywood films use to measure significance. He doesn&#8217;t build an empire. He doesn&#8217;t lead a revolution. He doesn&#8217;t even leave Bonners Ferry, Idaho. But his life is full — achingly, almost unbearably full — of the kind of meaning that seems increasingly difficult to find today. 
While the amenities of our modern world have made most features of our lives far easier than Grainier’s life in the early 20th century, our attention has been captured by our screens in ways that make seeing the true meaning of life more difficult. The constant digital noise obscures the “vertical” dimension of life — the transcendent awe, beauty, and wonder — that is quietly nestled within the “horizontal” dimension of life with our families, our work, and our daily bread.
You feel it every time you pick up your phone for a two-second dopamine hit. You feel it in the endless scroll, the algorithmic feed designed not to nourish you but to keep you clicking. Our attention, perhaps our most precious commodity, is relentlessly in demand. We&#8217;ve been unconsciously conditioned to consume what is on our screens the way we consume fast food: quickly, passively, and in portions intentionally engineered to leave us hungry for more.
&#8220;Train Dreams&#8221; refuses to play that game. It is aggressively, almost defiantly slow. Clint Bentley shoots the northwest wilderness like a man who believes the natural world is sacred. The camera lingers on firelight, on river water, on the lines carved into Joel Edgerton&#8217;s weathered face. There are stretches of this film where nothing &#8220;happens&#8221; in the way we&#8217;ve been trained to expect things to happen. No twist. No reveal. No dopamine spike.
And yet something does happen, something deeper than what will make for a viral TikTok moment. What &#8220;Train Dreams&#8221; offers is an invitation to a mode of attention that has atrophied in many of us. You don&#8217;t watch &#8220;Train Dreams&#8221; so much as you submit to it. You let it wash over you. And if you&#8217;re patient — if you can resist the itch to check your phone, the reflexive hunger for the next stimulus — something starts to shift in your chest. A loosening. A remembering of what’s missing. A slow reforming of what you believe is worthy of your attention. You look at your spouse, your children, your family, and even the odd but slightly endearing coworker a little differently.
The realization hits you, “This is all a gift.”
This is what beauty does. Not the pseudo-beauty of Instagram filters or AI “companions” of lust-driven fantasies. I&#8217;m talking about the older and deeper kind. The kind that the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins was pointing to when he wrote that &#8220;the world is charged with the grandeur of God.&#8221; The kind that doesn&#8217;t perform for you but simply is. It’s not anxious to steal your attention. It knows that when you come around to your senses and behold it, you’ll begin to remember what truly matters.
It&#8217;s not that the big box office spectacle is bad, but the best spectacles — the ones that actually stay with you, the ones that shape your soul rather than just stimulate your nervous system — are grounded in something real, something human. The box office spectacle should serve the soul. When it doesn&#8217;t, when the spectacle is the point, you get content. You get two hours of sensory input that evaporates the moment the credits roll.
&#8220;Train Dreams&#8221; has no interest in being content in a world where content is unlimited. Instead, it dares to remind you that art and story, and even the world of your own ordinary existence, can be a kind of sacrament that unites the “vertical” and the “horizontal” dimensions of life together.
This is the kind of movie our culture is starving for. Not more deconstruction. Not another jaded anti-hero smirking at the camera. Not another cynical Marxist or postmodern take on the world, which strips away every ounce of the “vertical” dimension of life and reduces the whole world to being about nothing more than an endless conflict between oppressor and oppressed. Real beauty shows how impotent all of that stuff is.
So here&#8217;s to the slow work of beauty. It&#8217;s the only kind that lasts.
***
Paul Anleitner is a cultural theologian whose work focuses on the role of culture and story in our quest for meaning. He is the author of &#8220;<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Based-True-Story-Deconstruction-Meaning/dp/1400256585/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3BV8UXHDPEC1C&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.yccpxYizt16XUGtvvBwuWsp5a9oLNXZg9tU9cVTW9v50Wa9ax9PyiRfxVAUEfadJ.FVBmUUp17NYWhh1xf5EbucOM2DqultqEfbl5vda8MZk&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=Based+on+a+True+Story%3A+Vibe+Shifts%2C+the+End+of+Deconstruction%2C+and+the+Reboot+of+Meaning&amp;nsdOptOutParam=true&amp;qid=1773945125&amp;s=books&amp;sprefix=based+on+a+true+story+vibe+shifts%2C+the+end+of+deconstruction%2C+and+the+reboot+of+meaning%2Cstripbooks%2C87&amp;sr=1-1">Based on a True Story: Vibe Shifts, the End of Deconstruction, and the Reboot of Meaning</a>.&#8221;
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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Hollywood Ignored A Film That Quietly Challenges How You Live

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We&#8217;re living in the middle of a gigantic online op.
It is an op designed to suck young men dry and leave them broken and stupid. It makes their lives actively worse. That op is called the manosphere, and it&#8217;s time to wake up to their matrix of evil.
Men without proper guideposts and durable moral institutions are being ushered into a world of stupidity and immorality by grifters and liars who traffic in lies, spiritual emptiness, and outright grift, who tell them they can be rich, famous, and have hot women hanging on their every word, lavishing their attention on you, demanding nothing from you in return.
All you have to do to get all of this is give the manosphere your money, your brain, and your soul.
All these folks are running the same scheme. Here&#8217;s how it works.
First, they tell young men that they are failing at life. Second, they tell the young men the reason they are failing at life is not because of anything they&#8217;re doing, per se, but because of the matrix, a system of power that&#8217;s out to get them. That system is what is depriving them of women, of money, of social mobility.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/bss-ep-2391-sub?elementPosition=4&amp;row=6&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-974957" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp" alt="DailyWire+" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-300x50.webp 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-768x128.webp 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1536x256.webp 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-2048x341.webp 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
Third, these men act transgressively and provocatively. They violate all social stigmas and then magically seem to achieve all of the things the matrix has placed off limits to young men. Fourth, they inform these young men that they, too, can have all of these wonderful things: the hot women and the nice cars and the big houses — if only they join a fake university or some B.S. stock trading app, or donate money to the Kick stream.
Finally, they tell young men that anyone who says differently is part of the matrix.
If any of this sounds familiar, that&#8217;s because it&#8217;s basically cult recruitment tactics, just made viral online. Cults typically target people who are suffering from a life crisis. They target the vulnerable, and then they love bomb those people, saying, “You&#8217;re with us. We understand you.”
They offer the most obvious critiques of the world: the unfairness of life, the impossibility of overcoming challenges. And then they say, “You know, the way out of that is the cult.”
Cults encourage recruits to cut out all contrary information, and cults tell these people that people who oppose the cults are actually members of some nefarious outside force. They contend that if you join the cult, you are saved or enlightened or awake, and everyone else is a suppressive evildoer.
This stuff is seductive — and dangerous, because it also tells young men things that are not true, such as “women are disgusting and perverse,” but also simultaneously that women are “shamelessly available and completely pliant” if you just crack the code.
It says you can achieve wealth and fame, not over time by building a business, but instantaneously, this moment, simply by seeing through the matrix and eschewing the 9-to-5 hard job in favor of a get-rich-quick scam.
And, if you fail, it&#8217;s because of the matrix. You just need to give them more money.
That matrix, by the way, is just code for the Jews. Tapping into the antisemitism allows them to seem both transgressive and also illuminating. Which is why we have tons of clips of these “manosphere” influencers singing Ye&#8217;s “Heil Hitler” just a couple of months ago.
None of this is new.
You want to know what women want? I speak as a man who&#8217;s been married for nearly 20 years and has four children with a fifth on the way.
Women want men who actually love and protect and cherish and defend them.
It&#8217;s not all that difficult, by the way. That is the definition of manhood. The definition of true manhood is to love, protect, cherish, defend, and provide for your wife and for your family.
That definition of what a man should be is also a great definition of how to be a happy human being.
You know what women don&#8217;t want?
Scumbags who tell them to clean up their rooms while maintaining a harem.
That&#8217;s intellectual pornography for morons.

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Intellectual Pornography For Morons

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***
Many, especially those on the political right, are encouraging Americans to have more babies. Proposed policies aim to provoke more robust reproduction, including efforts to make the fertility drugs used in IVF more affordable. But what do we say in our current baby-focused political climate to those for who have tried and failed to do their part to reduce the downward-trending birth rates? How can the conversation around population show compassion for those who have tried to have children, sought treatment, and yet remain decidedly un-pregnant?
Enter a little help from popular culture: &#8220;Bridgerton,&#8221; the Netflix Regency-era romance from Shonda Rhimes, which features an infertility story line in its fourth and latest season. (It&#8217;s clear that I need to acknowledge that there are fans of the original Julia Quinn books upset with the change in this story line, from miscarriage to infertility, in the series. I see you. But I have not read the books, so my example will be drawn only from the Netflix series.)
In any case, I do appreciate and always have appreciated an accurate depiction of infertility from the entertainment industry, and especially the rare one that doesn’t ultimately end in pregnancy, so I was glad to see it.  Of course, we don’t know yet how Francesca’s story will end, but (spoiler!) with her husband dead, and an unsuccessful bid at motherhood while he was still living, Francesca may find herself redefining the infertile girl’s happy ending.
After her husband’s death and conclusion that she is not actually pregnant as she believed, her sorrow is at least doubled (though how can anyone measure such a thing?).  Francesca feels she has let people down and left a duty unfulfilled. She feels guilty and alone. It is tempting to think the way she feels way about her infertility is simply a product of her era. But I can tell you as a woman who realized, treated (unsuccessfully), and grieved her own infertility throughout the first 25 years of the 21st century that those feelings can befall even a modern woman. She, too, will find herself asking, “What is wrong with me?”
It is a challenge to know how to support an infertile woman. There are so many ways to put your foot in your mouth. I am thinking of the scene after the terrible physical exam Francesca is forced to endure to confirm that she is pregnant with her deceased husband’s heir. Her mother, also made a widow at a younger age, attempts to empathize with her daughter. Francesca becomes angry and perhaps resentful at her mother’s suggestion that they are the same when Lady Bridgerton has eight children and she has none.
That said, providing comfort is a thing worth trying, especially as time goes on. It is an easier thing to cheer a woman on through treatments, especially at first when it’s all new and hope-filled and ripe with the promise of a baby after her arms have been empty. They say a change is as good as a rest. And the change from navigating infertility on your own to being under the care of a doctor can’t be underestimated. With a new regimen there is also new hope, and hope is fuel we burn in our efforts to keep trying again.
The real challenge comes when the months, medications, and money start adding up and there is still no baby. Just as with that first year of “trying” when you know every month that passes means you’re one month closer to needing to see a doctor for help, with every cycle of treatment, you know that statistically you are less and less likely to find success. And while there are advances in fertility medicine all the time, there are only so many courses of treatment that may work for you. And with each unsuccessful month, you are now even older than when you began, and the undeniable reality of age and fertility only compounds the all-encompassing fears that all of this effort was for naught and it’s never going to happen.
Even with the many advances, doctors can still only do so much. Modern medicine often tries to ease or eradicate physical and psychological suffering, but what about the existential? I don’t think there’s a drug out there that can take away the pain of the unfulfilled desire to become a mother.
So, how should we talk about infertility right now? How do we speak about population decline and infertility with compassion? I’m not sure there’s any right way to do it, but we should try. Rally round, stay close, and listen. Agree that it is sad. Know that you can’t fix things for them. And speak with truth and love.
Remember, too, that the scars of infertility remain long after the possibility of a pregnancy disappears. While I am no longer, oh I don’t know, actively infertile, I still appreciate when babies, pregnancy, and fertility are discussed with charity and compassion. Like Francesca and her mother, it may well be that “we are not the same.”
***
Leigh Fitzpatrick Snead is a fellow with the Catholic Association and author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FWXXR28K?ref=cm_sw_r_ffobk_cp_ud_dp_KSJX3RXM77XVPAYA9G6R&amp;ref_=cm_sw_r_ffobk_cp_ud_dp_KSJX3RXM77XVPAYA9G6R&amp;social_share=cm_sw_r_ffobk_cp_ud_dp_KSJX3RXM77XVPAYA9G6R&amp;bestFormat=true">&#8220;Infertile but Fruitful: Finding Fulfillment When You Can&#8217;t Conceive&#8221;</a> out now from Sophia Institute Press.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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‘Bridgerton’ Just Told A Story Many Women Know Too Well

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Spend five minutes on social media and you might think the conservative movement is falling apart.
Republicans are arguing about a lot these days, from foreign policy to strategy for the next election.
Healthy debate is part of politics. But while those arguments dominate the headlines, something far more significant is happening quietly in the background.
Conservatives are starting to win the culture war again.
And the recent collapse of the proposed <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/warner-bros-signs-110-billion-deal-with-paramount-ends-bidding-war-with-netflix-2026-02-27/">Netflix–Warner Bros. Discovery deal</a> is a perfect example.
Netflix <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/netflix-taps-bank-explore-bid-warner-bros-discovery-2025-10-30/">sought</a> to absorb the company, which would have created an even larger streaming giant with massive influence over what Americans watch and, increasingly, what messages they are expected to absorb.
Hollywood and the streaming industry no longer just produce entertainment. They shape culture. They shape narratives. And for years, many of these institutions have leaned heavily into progressive activism and the kind of <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/disney-ceo-asked-if-company-is-too-woke-says-it-will-cater-audience-2022-10-26/">“woke” messaging</a> that <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2020/01/24/u-s-media-polarization-and-the-2020-election-a-nation-divided/">alienates</a> millions of Americans who simply want to enjoy a movie or television show without being lectured.
Then the political pressure began.
President Trump publicly opposed the merger. Conservative voices <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/feb/03/senate-netflix-warner-bros-discovery-merger">raised concerns</a> about media consolidation and about expanding the power of cultural institutions that already lean heavily to the Left.
Suddenly, what looked like a routine corporate deal became something else entirely — a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/trump-says-he-will-stay-out-netflix-paramount-fight-over-warner-bros-2026-02-05">cultural flashpoint.</a>
And in late February, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/warner-bros-signs-110-billion-deal-with-paramount-ends-bidding-war-with-netflix-2026-02-27/">the deal collapsed.</a>
Even more interesting is what happened next. Paramount, another bidder — backed by Larry Ellison, one of the most outspoken <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/business/factbox-oracle-chairman-larry-ellisons-history-of-support-for-trump-idUSKBN2652RV/">pro-Trump voices</a> in American business — stepped forward.
That’s not just a business development. It’s a signal.
For years, conservatives were told the culture war was unwinnable. Hollywood was too powerful. Silicon Valley was too dominant. Corporate America had permanently aligned itself with <a href="https://www.reuters.com/breakingviews/corporate-america-is-caught-dei-ratchet-2025-02-21/">progressive politics</a>.
The message from the Left was simple: accept it.
But over the past few years, conservatives discovered something important: pressure works.
Bud Light learned that lesson the hard way. A <a href="https://apnews.com/article/bud-light-anheuser-busch-inbev-earnings-46b6412f84b5e8884caea941fc069d2f">tone-deaf marketing campaign</a> sparked one of the most successful consumer boycotts in modern American history. Billions in market value evaporated and one of the country’s most recognizable brands suffered lasting damage.
Cracker Barrel experienced <a href="https://apnews.com/article/cracker-barrel-logo-trump-8b496da282deef3d8d0618c3f9f4db46">similar backlash</a> when customers pushed back against progressive messaging that had little to do with serving breakfast.
Now Netflix is feeling that same pressure.
For years, corporate executives believed they could align openly with progressive activism without facing real consequences. Diversity bureaucracies <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/factbox-us-companies-drop-diversity-policies-after-trumps-order-2025-02-27">expanded</a>. Political messaging crept into advertising campaigns, entertainment content, as well as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/disney-investors-reject-proposal-withdraw-hrcs-diversity-index-2025-03-20/">corporate statements</a>.
The assumption was that conservatives might complain, but they would keep buying the product.
That assumption is no longer safe.
Businesses respond to incentives. They always have.
When conservative consumers stay quiet, companies drift Left. When conservative consumers push back, companies suddenly <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/bud-light-loses-top-us-beer-spot-after-mulvaney-ad-boycott-2023-06-14/">start reconsidering their strategy</a>.
The Biden years showed what happens when one side dominates the cultural conversation. Progressive activists shaped corporate messaging. DEI programs spread rapidly across major institutions. Hollywood and streaming companies increasingly <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/disney-ceo-says-company-will-quiet-noise-culture-wars-analyst-2023-09-20/">reflected the worldview of a narrow ideological class</a> in Los Angeles and Silicon Valley.
How many culture-war victories did conservatives get during those years? Not many.
But elections change incentives. President Trump’s election sent a clear signal: the cultural dominance of the Left was no longer inevitable.
Corporate leaders began to realize that tens of millions of Americans were no longer willing to be dismissed or mocked by the cultural institutions that dominate entertainment and media.
Does this mean conservatives suddenly control Hollywood? Of course not. The entertainment industry will remain overwhelmingly liberal for the foreseeable future.
But the dynamic has changed.
For the first time in a long time, the cultural institutions that shape American entertainment are being <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/disney-ceo-says-company-will-quiet-noise-culture-wars-analyst-2023-09-20/">forced to recognize</a> that half the country will no longer sit quietly while those institutions push politics into every corner of popular culture.
That recognition alone represents a major shift.
Conservatives win when they stay engaged. When they vote. When they speak up. And when they refuse to accept the idea that <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2020/01/24/u-s-media-polarization-and-the-2020-election-a-nation-divided/">cultural power belongs exclusively to elites in Hollywood</a>, Manhattan, and Silicon Valley.
The culture war isn’t decided in one election or one corporate deal. It’s a long struggle over the values that shape American life.
But corporate America is beginning to understand something it ignored for years: pressure works.
Bud Light <a href="https://apnews.com/article/bud-light-anheuser-busch-inbev-earnings-46b6412f84b5e8884caea941fc069d2f">learned it.</a> Cracker Barrel <a href="https://apnews.com/article/cracker-barrel-logo-trump-8b496da282deef3d8d0618c3f9f4db46">learned it.</a> And now Netflix is learning it too.
* * *
Jason Chaffetz served as a member of the U.S. Congress from 2009 to 2017. He chaired the House Oversight Committee.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Elon Musk Urges X Followers To Cancel Netflix Subscriptions Over Controversial Animated Show

The Lesson Corporate America Keeps Learning The Hard Way

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Woke Culture

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos gave his first interview since the company pulled out of their deal to acquire Warner Bros., saying contrary to the rumors, it wasn’t President Trump’s influence that killed the merger.
The entertainment exec called the competing offer from Paramount “irrational” and claimed he had no regrets about how it all played out. Sarandos said it came down to having a set price amount they weren’t willing to go beyond and being outbid by David Ellison’s rival offer.
“We had a very tight range that we’d be willing to pay and made that offer back when we closed this deal,” Sarandos told Lucas Shaw of Bloomberg in an <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-02-27/how-netflix-forced-paramount-to-cough-up-more-for-warner-bros?cmpid=screentime&amp;utm_campaign=screentime&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=newsletter&amp;utm_term=260301&amp;embedded-checkout=true">interview</a> published Saturday. “I’m happy where we got in and happy where we got out.”
Rumors swirled that the Department of Justice may have influenced the breakdown, or that Trump himself may have had sway. But Sarandos said those narratives are false.
“I don’t know that there was growing political resistance,” the Netflix exec said. “It was a growing narrative of political resistance. But we were on a normal regulatory path. … This story has been fed out for everybody, but it’s just not accurate. We were not only involved with the DOJ, we were involved with 50 regulatory bodies around the world. These things have been going exactly the way they should.”
Sarandos told Shaw that Trump “stayed completely neutral on this.”
“The truth of it is, someone was going to lose it for a dollar,” Sarandos said of the deal. “And the quicker you accepted that, the better.”
Shaw described Paramount as being an “unusual other buyer,” which Sarandos agreed with.
“Unusual, yeah, unusual, irrational, whatever words you want to use in that,” he replied. “It’ll be fascinating to see the next steps. I have been on the record a lot in the last two weeks talking about what I think the future looks like. I’m confident in our future that we’re not impacted by all that. In fact, maybe it’s to our advantage. But I hope I’m wrong for the sake of the industry.”
Warner Bros. agreed in December to an $82.7 billion deal with Netflix. Paramount responded with several hostile takeover bids over the following months, culminating in a surprise twist as the streaming giant bowed out in February.
“&#8230;this transaction was always a ‘nice to have’ at the right price, not a ‘must have’ at any price,” Sarandos and Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters said in a statement at the time, as The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/netflix-backs-down-in-fight-for-warner-bros-leaving-paramount-inches-from-victory">reported</a>.

Ted Sarandos

Netflix CEO Sets Record Straight On Trump Rumors After Warner Bros. Deal Fizzles

U.S.

In a stunning twist in the months-long war between Netflix and Paramount over which company would purchase Warner Bros., the streaming giant has <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/netflix-backs-out-warners-deal-paramount-win-1236516763/">bowed out</a>.
After Warner Bros. released a statement on Thursday saying that the company’s board of directors viewed Paramount’s latest offer as a “<a href="https://ir.wbd.com/news-and-events/financial-news/financial-news-details/2026/Warner-Bros--Discovery-Board-of-Directors-Determines-Revised-Proposal-from-Paramount-Skydance-Constitutes-a-Company-Superior-Proposal/default.aspx">superior proposal</a>,” and that Netflix had four days to respond, the streamer backed out of the bidding war.
&#8220;Under the terms of the Netflix merger agreement, this notice triggers a four business day period during which Netflix has the right to propose revisions to the Netflix merger agreement so that the PSKY proposal would cease to constitute a &#8216;Company Superior Proposal,'&#8221; Warner Bros. stated in their <a href="https://ir.wbd.com/news-and-events/financial-news/financial-news-details/2026/Warner-Bros--Discovery-Board-of-Directors-Determines-Revised-Proposal-from-Paramount-Skydance-Constitutes-a-Company-Superior-Proposal/default.aspx">press release</a>.
Netflix Co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters responded in a <a href="https://ir.netflix.net/investor-news-and-events/financial-releases/press-release-details/2026/Netflix-Declines-to-Raise-Offer-for-Warner-Bros-/default.aspx">statement</a> of their own.
“The transaction we negotiated would have created shareholder value with a clear path to regulatory approval. However, we’ve always been disciplined, and at the price required to match Paramount Skydance’s latest offer, the deal is no longer financially attractive, so we are declining to match the Paramount Skydance bid,” Sarandos and Peters said.
The company heads added that they believe Netflix would have taken good care of the Warner Bros. IP (intellectual property) and “strengthened the entertainment industry and preserved and created more production jobs in the U.S.”
“But this transaction was always a ‘nice to have’ at the right price, not a ‘must have’ at any price,” they concluded.
Paramount’s most recent bid raised the per-share price to $31, and featured a ticking fee, which would have paid shareholders if the deal took too long to come to fruition. Additionally, the company offered a $7 billion breakup fee, which would be paid if the deal were to fall through due to regulatory issues, and a nearly $3 billion fee that Warner Bros. owes Netflix as a result of their prior deal not materializing.
Netflix’s last offer was valued at $82.7 billion, and was aimed at purchasing Warner Bros.’ film and streaming divisions (HBO Max), as well as DC Comics. Paramount, on the other hand, would be purchasing all of Warner Bros. Discovery, including its linear and cable TV networks.
There has been much consternation in Hollywood, especially following the Disney-Fox acquisition, over the Warner Bros. bidding war, with many in the industry voicing concerns that further media consolidation would do irreparable damage to the movie and TV business, with lost jobs and fewer options for creatives.
Though neither company (Paramount or Netflix) were favored by those in the industry, Netflix was viewed with a particularly skeptical eye as some questioned the streaming giant’s commitment to the theatrical experience. Others view Paramount CEO David Ellison&#8217;s apparently close relationship with the Trump administration as a reason for pause.

There’s A Winner In The Netflix/Paramount Bidding War

Concerned Women for America, the nation’s largest public policy organization for women, is urging the Justice Department to block Netflix’s planned acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.
The organization shared a copy of the letter exclusively with The Daily Wire on Thursday morning. It raises concerns about Netflix’s transparency with families and a lack of clarity in how it applies age-based ratings and content disclosures to programs marketed to children.
The letter from CWA also argued that the proposed merger “threatened competition and the public interest.” 
It pointed out that television viewership has changed and said streaming platforms have enormous sway over the viewing public, but are at the same time less regulated.
“By absorbing Warner Brothers’ extensive content library and distribution assets, Netflix would surpass the 30% market share threshold, making it a presumptive monopoly, and giving it unprecedented dominance in the streaming ecosystem,” the letter says. “Allowing such consolidation would reduce competition, harm consumers, and create a structural imbalance that would be exceptionally difficult to reverse, especially in view of the absence of a dedicated regulatory authority for streaming.”
CWA President and CEO Penny Nance wrote in the letter that Netflix has been notoriously vague about content marketed to children. The organization cited a December study finding that one-third of all Netflix shows rated for children include LGBT characters, themes, or messaging, with that percentage jumping to 41% for TV-G and TV-Y7 categories, as The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/preschool-propaganda-study-finds-41-of-netflix-kids-shows-include-lgbt-themes">reported</a>.
Nance argued that if the Justice Department did not block the merger, it should, at a minimum, “secure concrete, enforceable commitments and publish clear public‑interest expectations for streaming platforms,” including third-party ratings, clearer content labels, including for LGBT material, enhanced child-protective settings, and frequent audits.
In a written statement to The Daily Wire, Nance said she does not believe a potential acquisition involving Paramount would raise the same concerns as the proposed Netflix deal.
&#8220;Our concerns with Netflix stem mainly from its lack of transparency around content ratings, given that children&#8217;s programming has a large amount of LGBTQ content that is not disclosed to parents,” Nance said. “Paramount does not wield the same market influence as Netflix. The DOJ must reject Netflix&#8217;s bid for Warner Bros.”
Warner Bros. agreed in December to an $82.7 billion deal with Netflix. Since then, Paramount has submitted several hostile takeover bids in an effort to block the agreement, though none have succeeded.
Warner Bros. Discovery is <a href="https://www.wbd.com/news/warner-bros-discovery-board-directors-determines-revised-proposal-paramount-skydance-could">currently reviewing</a> Paramount Skydance&#8217;s latest offer: $31-per-share cash. It includes a $7 billion regulatory termination fee and coverage of their $2.8 billion breakup fee with Netflix.

Entertainment Industry Workers Vote To Strike, Threatening Hollywood Productions

Conservative Women Expose Netflix Kids Content – How The Trump Admin Could Step In

President Donald Trump on Saturday called for Netflix to fire former national security adviser Susan Rice from its board.
“Netflix should fire racist, Trump Deranged Susan Rice, IMMEDIATELY, or pay the consequences. She’s got no talent or skills — Purely a political hack! HER POWER IS GONE, AND WILL NEVER BE BACK. How much is she being paid, and for what???” Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116111073840858395">posted</a> on Truth Social.
Trump’s post followed Rice’s appearance on a podcast hosted by former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara. During the interview, Rice, a longtime Democrat operative, issued a warning to “elites” that “take a knee to Trump.” Rice said that when Democrats are back in power, companies, universities, and others who did not fight Trump would face Justice Department probes for potential illegality.
“When it comes to the elites, you know, the corporate interests, the law firms, the universities, the media, I agree with you, Preet. It is not going to end well for them, for those that decided that they would act in their perceived, very narrow self-interest – which I would underscore is very short-term self-interest – and, you know, take a knee to Trump,” <a href="https://x.com/WesternLensman/status/2024661247296172486">said</a> Rice.
“They are going to be caught with more than their pants down. They&#8217;re going to be held accountable by those who come in opposition to Trump and win at the ballot box,” she said.
Rice insisted that the retribution from Democrats on the entities that worked with Trump would come through legal means and be based on the unlawful conduct of those targeted. But she said Democrats would ditch the “old rules.”
“If these corporations think that the Democrats, when they come back in power, are going to, you know, play by the old rules and, you know, and say, ‘oh, never mind, we’ll forgive you for all the people you’ve fired, all the policies and principles you&#8217;ve violated, all the laws you’ve skirted’ – I think they&#8217;ve got another thing coming,” said Rice.
“Whether you’re a law firm, whether you’re a university, whether you’re a media entity, whether you’re a big corporation, whether you’re big tech … there will be an accountability agenda,” she continued. “They better be ready for subpoenas. If they&#8217;ve done something wrong, they&#8217;ll be held accountable. And if they haven&#8217;t broken the law, good for them. … That, also, will be noted and remembered.”
Trump’s push to oust Rice comes as Netflix attempts to navigate a major business deal by acquiring Warner’s movie and television studios and HBO Max. Netflix has offered to pay $72 billion for the acquisition. The Department of Justice has already <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/doj-probes-netflix-power-over-233132671.html">launched</a> a probe into whether the deal could violate antitrust laws.

Susan Rice

Trump Says Netflix Should Fire ‘Racist, Trump Deranged’ Susan Rice

Donald Trump

Five years after Disney+ fired Gina Carano from “The Mandalorian” for expressing her opinion via social media posts, the actress and former MMA fighter is coming back into the spotlight, literally.
Netflix <a href="https://www.netflix.com/tudum/features/ronda-rousey-gina-carano-mma-live-on-netflix">announced on Monday</a> that Carano will face off against MMA competitor Ronda Rousey in a live, professionally sanctioned fight on Saturday, May 16 at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles. The event marks Netflix&#8217;s first-ever mixed martial arts event and is being co-promoted by Most Valuable Promotions (MVP), the combat sports company co-founded by Jake Paul.
The fight will take place at featherweight, 145 lbs, inside a hexagon cage instead of the traditional UFC octagon. The format will be up to five 5-minute rounds under the Unified Rules of MMA.
Carano holds an MMA record of 7-1 with wins by submission, knockout, and decision, and her earlier Muay Thai record is 12-1-1. She has not competed since 2009. Rousey has a 12-2 record, but has not competed in the sport in a decade following a WWE career.
“Been waiting so long to announce this: Me and Gina Carano are gonna throw down in the biggest super fight in women’s combat sport history!” Rousey <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/gina-carano-ronda-rousey-netflix-mma-fight-the-mandalorian-1236507548/">said</a> in a statement, per The Hollywood Reporter. “And we’re partnering with the fighter-first promotion MVP as well as the biggest and baddest streamer on the planet Netflix. This is for all MMA fans past, present and future. More to come… much more.”
“Ronda came to me and said there is only one person she would make a comeback for and it has been her dream to make this fight happen between us,” Carano said. “She thanked me for opening up doors for her in her career and was respectful in asking for this fight to happen. This is an honor. I believe I will walk out of this fight with the win and I anticipate it will not come easy, which I welcome. This is as much for Ronda and me as it is for the fans and mixed martial arts community. What a time to be alive.”
This un-cancellation comes just a few short years after Carano was abruptly fired from “The Mandalorian” in February 2021 after Lucasfilm objected to her social media posts.
The firing was widely condemned by conservatives as a case of Hollywood cancel culture. Carano filed a lawsuit against Disney alleging she was wrongfully terminated for her political beliefs.
Shortly after the high-profile termination, Carano partnered with The Daily Wire for a movie deal that resulted in the feature film “Terror on the Prairie,” which premiered in June 2022.
The actress <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/yes-im-smiling-disney-settles-lawsuit-with-gina-carano-over-mandalorian-firing?author=Amanda+Harding&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=%E2%80%98Yes%2C+I%E2%80%99m+Smiling%E2%80%99%3A+Disney+Settles+Lawsuit+With+Gina+Carano+Over+%E2%80%98Mandalorian%E2%80%99+Firing">settled her case</a> against Disney in August 2025. &#8220;I am humbled and grateful to God for His love and grace in this outcome,” she wrote on social media at the time. “I’d like to thank you all for your unrelenting support throughout my life and career; you’ve been the heartbeat that has kept my story alive. I hope to make you proud… yes, I’m smiling.”

Gina Carano

Gina Carano Vs. Ronda Rousey: Netflix Announces First-Ever Live MMA Event

Fighters

Televison

Warner Bros Discovery is considering reopening sale talks with rival Hollywood studio Paramount Skydance after receiving its hostile suitor&#8217;s most recent amended offer, Bloomberg News reported on Sunday, citing people with knowledge of the matter.
Members of Warner Bros&#8217; board are discussing whether Paramount could offer the path to a superior deal, the Bloomberg report said, adding that the board has not decided how to respond and may stick to the current deal with Netflix.
Reuters could not immediately verify the report. Paramount, Warner Bros and Netflix did not respond to requests for comment.
Paramount had enhanced its Warner Bros bid last week by offering shareholders extra cash for each quarter the deal fails to close after this year. It also agreed to cover the breakup fee the HBO parent would owe Netflix if it walked away, even though the CBS owner did not raise its per-share offer.
Paramount said it has offered shareholders a 25-cent-per-share quarterly &#8220;ticking fee&#8221; (about $650 million) in cash starting in 2027 until closing and agreed to cover Warner Bros’ $2.8 billion breakup fee to Netflix. However, it did not raise its $30-per-share offer, valuing the deal at $108.4 billion including debt.
Both Netflix and Paramount covet Warner Bros for its leading film and television studios, extensive content library and major franchises such as &#8220;Game of Thrones,&#8221; &#8220;Harry Potter&#8221; and DC Comics superheroes Batman and Superman.
Activist investor Ancora Holdings, which has built a nearly $200 million stake, last week said it plans to oppose the Netflix deal, arguing the board did not sufficiently engage with Paramount over its rival bid, which includes cable assets like CNN and TNT.
(Reporting by Chandni Shah in Bengaluru; Editing by Chris Reese and Matthew Lewis)

In this photo illustration, the Warner Bros Discovery logo

Warner Bros Weighs Reopening Sale Talks With Paramount, Bloomberg Reports

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