Netflix CEO defends bowing to Saudi Arabia in pulling Hasan Minhaj's Patriot Act: "We're not trying to do truth to power"

Mediaite

“We’re not in the news business, we’re not trying to do truth to power. We’re trying to entertain," CEO Reed Hastings said at The New York Times DealBook conference today when asked about pulling the Patriot Act from Saudi Arabia after the country complained about Minhaj attacking the country's leaders. Hastings added: “We can pick fights with governments about newsy topics or we can say, ’cause the Saudi government allows us to have shows like Sex Education, that show a very liberal lifestyle and very provocative and important topics. So we can accomplish a lot more by being entertainment and influencing a global conversation about how people live than trying to be another news channel.” ALSO: Hastings says of the new streamers, “Disney is the one we have the most to learn from."