The movie Leave the World Behind recently premiered on Netflix. Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama, executive produced the project which was produced by his company, Higher Ground. Now the Netflix movie is facing backlash on social media.
The premise of the film revolves around two families that have to navigate a crisis during a nationwide blackout. Barack Obama is said to have been involved with the film’s script, having provided feedback in an effort to increase the realism of the story.
There’s one piece of dialogue, however, that has viewers particularly upset. They believe that the film is “demonizing whites” and that it’s even “racist” as a result. The line of dialogue is as follows:
“I’m sorry asking you to remember that if the world falls apart, trust should not be doled out easily to anyone, especially white people.”
Here are some of the responses that have surfaced as a result:
I love how the Obamas promote racism. So great for America.
— Glenda (@Glendaragnarson) December 11, 2023
Should Netflix be renamed Wokeflix? pic.twitter.com/rDsR7Pu0vV
— Planet Of Memes (@PlanetOfMemes) December 11, 2023
If you don’t support hatred against white people, then you’re a racist
— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) December 12, 2023
Anti-white racism is still racism, and racism is bad… Did we forget this as a society?
— Lado Bitnar (@LadoBitnar) December 11, 2023
A strange choice…it’s a slight lil book on a family in an out of the way place coming to grips with the possibility some bad shit is happening to the world…and btw…this dialogue is not in the book…
— John Devlin (@Devlinside123) December 11, 2023
Back in the 80’s racism was a lingering thought of the past and we learned from MLK to judge on the content of character, not the color of our skin. Thanks to the Obama’s, hateful racism is alive and destroying society.
— RareImagery 🇺🇸 (@RareImagery) December 11, 2023
I was going to watch that but now I’m not
— We The Memes (@MericanMemes) December 11, 2023
ollywood’s obsession with demonizing white people is disturbing and racist. The Obamas’ involvement in such divisive content is disappointing but not surprising. We need unity, not more racial division on our screens.
— Frank (@FrankChronicles) December 11, 2023
Racism against Whites is the most prevalent of our time
— Johannes Walter Reich (@johanneswreich) December 11, 2023
The line is uttered by two black people as they lay in bed together. In addition to viewers, however, the backlash even extends to certain celebrities, with actor James Woods claiming that Obama and his wife are using their power “to promote racial hatred.”
The Obamas are two of the most influential people on the planet. Politics aside, you have to agree that their potential power to create good in the world is monumental.
That’s why seeing that power used to promote racial hatred is deeply disappointing. pic.twitter.com/HpCuyVlgbI
— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) December 11, 2023
One user actually feels as though the movie was specifically tailored to increase fear surrounding Elon Musk and his companies. Musk, having been involved with the production of numerous electric car models including those produced by Tesla, has received his own share of backlash in recent years.
There are people that don’t approve of the implementation of electric vehicles and Leave the World Behind does revolve around a catastrophe where such machinery is no longer usable:
This is creepy as hell. From the new Netflix/Obama produced apocalyptic film “Leave The World Behind”
This is clearly designed to fear monger about @tesla Full Self Driving capability and driven by a hatred & desire to hurt @elonmusk’s companies pic.twitter.com/Z7PP9HMv3A
— Nuance Bro (@NuanceBro) December 12, 2023
Stay tuned to ScreenGeek for any additional updates regarding Netflix and any other backlash that might surface as a result on social media. For now, viewers can find Leave the World Behind for themselves via Netflix.