Fresh off the heels of criticism from The New York Times, co-CEO of The Daily Wire Jeremy Boreing panned Netflix's children's show, CoComelon Lane.
A clip from episode eight of the Netflix program was shared to X depicting two fathers singing and praising their son as the child dances while wearing a tutu and tiara. As of Wednesday evening, the video has just under 11 million views.
Netflix's preschool content executive Heather Tilert explicitly said the show was aimed at "3 to 5-year-olds" in an interview with The New York Post.
Boreing commented on the scene in a Wednesday X post advertising The Daily Wire's children's streaming service Bentkey, which launched in October.
"This is why we built Bentkey.com," Boreing wrote in response to the clip. "Parents need options. Bentkey is the way."
In a follow up post, Boreing detailed the show's connection to Disney.
CoComelon was owned by parent company Moonbug Entertainment, who acquired the property in November 2021 for $3 billion from its previous owner, Candle Media, Boreing detailed. Candle media's co-CEOs previously worked for Disney in the 1990s before assuming a position as CEO of Playboy.
In July 2023, Mayer and Staggs were hired as consultants by Disney CEO Bob Iger.
"Cocomelon has 172 billion views on YouTube and is the #1 and #2 most popular kids shows on Netflix, and they just introduced two Dads encouraging their son to choose whatever feels right," Boreing noted. "But we know it’s not about what feels right, it’s about what *is* right."
"Which is why we’ve invested tens of millions of dollars into creating Bentkey, a platform for kids entertainment that actually reinforces our values and protects kids from the most radical ideas of today," The Daily Wire co-CEO said of the children's streaming service. "Building alternatives is the only way we can win, and every new subscriber to Bentkey is making an investment into that future. We are not done building, but we can’t do it without you. Join us in the fight and get great content your kids will love and you can trust."
Earlier this week, Bentkey's flagship program, Chip Chilla, and Australian children's program Bluey were criticized by The New York Times for depicting "fantasy" of "boundlessly attentive fathers" featured in both series. CoComelon Lane notably features similarly attentive and active fathers.
“There are two kids shows that stand out to the New York Times as problematic: Bentkey’s Chip Chilla and Bluey," Boreing wrote in a Tuesday X post. "And what’s so problematic? ‘Weirdly present’ fathers."
“But, according to NYT, Chip Chilla is the far more offensive of the two because Chum Chum teaches ‘lessons about dead white people’ (read: George Washington, Ben Franklin, Neil Armstrong, etc.) and leads his kids in fun games and lessons as a way of establishing ‘male authority,’” Boreing continued.
Although The New York Times' Amanda Hess criticizes Chip Chilla's "traditional" conservative values, the writer equally notes both shows depict the "fantasy" of idyllic stay-at-home father figures.
Hess also said both shows contrasted other depictions of fathers as the "lazy sitcom dad glued to the living room couch watching television."
In October, The Daily Wire launched children's streaming service Bentkey on the 100th anniversary of The Walt Disney Company. Chip Chilla was advertised as the service's flagship show along with other programs, including Kid Explorer, Gus Plus Us, Runes and A Wonderful Day with Mabel Maclay among other children’s shows.
