How tampons in the men's room helped derail the Netflix-Warner Bros. deal

https://nypost.com/2026/03/01/business/how-tampons-in-the-mens-room-
helped-derail-the-netflix-warner-bros-deal/

There were many defining moments featured in the months-long battle for 
the ownership of Warner Bros. Discovery: Sit-downs to woo President Trump, 
high-profile Congressional hearings, a brutal bidding war, and a tampon.

Yes, a tampon.

During the deal negotiations, while Netflix was wooing skeptical GOP 
lawmakers that it wasn’t a left-wing company looking to get more powerful 
by snapping up WBD, a delegation of lawmakers paid a visit to its  
headquarters, and one was both shocked and disturbed to find a basket 
containing tampons in the men’s restroom.

To be clear, there are other factors involved in CEO Ted Sarandos’s 
decision to cancel his nearly completed purchase of WBD’s studio and 
streaming service. But the “Tampon Incident,” as it has become known on 
Capitol Hill, does carry some weight in the unwavering political 
opposition from the GOP to Sarandos’ ambitions.

“This is 2026, not 2020,” said one GOP staffer with first-hand knowledge 
of the matter. “What were they thinking?”

According to the spin coming from Netflix, Sarandos $73 billion purchase 
of vast chunks of the company known as WBD came to a grinding halt last 
Thursday because he didn’t want to get into a bidding war with Paramount 
Skydance, which had just sweetened a “hostile” offer for the company to 
$80.5 billion.

David Ellison’s Paramount is a smallish media company with a big bank 
account. Ellison’s father is Larry Ellison, the Oracle co-founder worth 
nearly $200 billion His deep pockets backed his son’s ever more expensive 
offers for the entire company. 

Sarandos, meanwhile, runs a public company, with a market value that fell 
a whopping $200 billion during the costly takeover process that his 
existing shareholders obviously didn’t like. As Sarandos put it: “This 
transaction was always a ‘nice to have’ at the right price, not a ‘must 
have’ at any price.”

Maybe, but price wasn’t Sarandos’s only obstacle. During the 6-month 
bidding war, many Republicans in congress, state AG offices and of course 
the White House came to believe that Netflix was seeking to create a 
monopoly in streaming — an increasingly important way Americans consume 
entertainment.

Netflix denied this, arguing it faces competition for consumers from 
social media and YouTube, though opposition only seemed to intensify in 
recent weeks. One big worry: Netflix would use the market clout that WBD 
would give it to further push progressivism in its programming. 

Sarandos has long argued that Netflix programming appeals to all political 
tastes, but conservative-leaning advocacy groups have produced research 
that its programming and documentaries more often push themes such as 
transgenderism, Diversity Equity and Inclusion, and other issues near-and-
dear to the cultural left. 

Sarandos and Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings, meanwhile, are both big 
supporters of Democrats and progressive policies. Susan Rice, a top 
official in the lefty Obama administration and a staunch critic of Trump, 
sits on its board. It was Rice’s inopportune comments on a podcast 
attacking companies that do business with Trump that is also said to have 
cost Sarandos more White House support for the WBD deal.

Last month, Sarandos was grilled on these matters by a Senate Judiciary 
antitrust subcommittee headed by GOP Utah senator Mike Lee. Not long 
after, Sarandos launched a charm offensive on GOP lawmakers and the White 
House, worried that a close call on WBDs antitrust implications could turn 
into a rout against the deal if he didn’t tamp down on the political 
concerns, people close to the matter say.

His job only got more difficult when a bunch of GOP lawmakers paid a visit 
several weeks ago at Netflix HQ in Los Angeles, according to three people 
with direct knowledge of the matter. They were part of a congressional 
delegation that each year visits various Hollywood studios around the time 
of the Grammy Awards.

One attendee was Missouri GOP congressman Jason Smith, chair of the 
House’s powerful Ways and Means committee, and a lawmaker who is skeptical 
of Netflix’s spin that it is a politically neutral provider of 
programming. 

Even more so, according to a source who spoke with him, when during the 
confab he went to the men’s room at the firm’s offices and noticed the 
basket of tampons. 

“Let’s just say the chairman was pretty disturbed,” this person added.

In recent years many tech companies have made tampons available in men’s 
rooms to promote diversity and inclusivity for trans employees. But 
conservatives believe such efforts to normalize transgenderism have dire 
societal effects, in that it proselytizes children into undergoing harmful 
surgeries, undermines the nuclear family and leads to men competing in 
women’s sports.

They also believe these values are front and center in Netflix’s 
programming, and the Tampon Incident, as it filtered through the halls of 
congress, became proof the company wasn’t changing its politics.

A spokesman for Smith declined to comment; a Netflix spokeswoman had no 
comment.


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November 5, 2024 - Congratulations President Donald Trump.  We look 
forward to America being great again.

We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that 
stupid people won't be offended.

Every day is an IQ test. Some pass, some, not so much.

Thank you for cleaning up the disasters of the 2008-2017, 2020-2024 Obama 
/ Biden / Harris fiascos, President Trump.

Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the 
The World According To Garp.  Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood 
queer liberal democrat donors.