“There’s no political slant to the programming,” Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos said of the planned productions from former President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle. The news follows the development last week that the Obamas have partnered with the media giant to produce variety of content, including scripted series, unscripted series, docu-series, documentaries, and features.
“We are incredibly proud they have chosen to make Netflix the home for their formidable storytelling abilities,” Sarandos said in a news release according to Fox News.
While a former president and his wife engaging in media productions is not that newsworthy in of itself, there are a few things, Sarandos in particular, that have not been mentioned.
Sarandos and his wife have been longtime donors to the Obama, having raised over $600,000 in their name for the former president’s 2012 campaign. As well, Nicole Avant, Sarandos’ wife, was appointed by Obama as ambassador to the Bahamas, serving from 2009 to 2011.
When asked about the estimated $50 million deal, a Netflix spokesperson said, “Ted Sarandos is our chief content officer so of course he was engaged in bringing Higher Ground Productions to Netflix.” Higher Ground Productions is the name of the company established by the Obamas to produce content for the streaming service.
Also, Avant’s father, music executive Clarence Avant, bundled nearly $450,000 for Obama’s presidential campaigns.
The move also comes just two months after Netflix announced that Obama’s former national security adviser and ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice would be joining the company’s board of directors.
“I am thrilled to be joining the board of directors of Netflix, a cutting-edge company whose leadership, high-quality productions, and unique culture I deeply admire,” Rice said in March.
Following that announcement, some subscribers, maddened by her involvement with Netflix, threatened to cancel. Netflix reiterated this week that Rice had no involvement in bringing the Obamas to the company.
“Board members play no role in content decisions at Netflix,” the spokesperson said when asked about Rice’s potential role.
It is unknown what specifically the Obama duo will produce for Netflix; however, Sarandos denied that Netflix will turn into “the Obama Network.”
A statement from the former president last week said, “…Michelle and I are so excited to partner with Netflix – we hope to cultivate and curate the talented, inspiring, creative voices who are able to promote greater empathy and understanding between peoples, and help them share their stories with the entire world.”
So, even though the production from the Obama will not be politically slanted, it doesn’t have to be – media already is – apart from the obvious nature of news outlets.
We have the Chelsea Handler’s “Chelsea Lately,” Samantha Bee’s “Full Frontal,” Trevor Noah’s “Daily Show,” Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night premier, John Oliver’s “Last Week Tonight,” “The View,” “Saturday Night Live,” and a multitude of of other toxic, bitter, and abhorrent “progressive-minded” TV shows, channels, and features.
Higher Ground Productions will not be seen as “politically slanted,” because any person or outlet that rips apart anything conservative, anti-big government, and generally normal is the new normal.
