Former President Barack Obama spoke out about his and former First Lady Michelle Obama‘s recent, multiyear Netflix deal, describing their intent to “amplify the connections between all of us.”
“We want to tell stories,” Obama said to audience members at a Las Vegas conference hosted by Okta, a company that focuses on digital identity security. Through Netflix, Obama described, he and Michelle gain a platform to do that, “lifting people up and identifying people doing amazing work.”
During his talk, the former president discussed how his administration had used the White House as a platform for giving performers a space to tell their stories. Lin-Manuel Miranda first performed the opening song of his Broadway hit, Hamilton, at a White House poetry slam. And Bruce Springsteen adapted a private White House performance into his running Broadway show, Bruce in the USA.
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These examples shine some light on the kind of videos Obama says his and Michelle’s production studio, Higher Ground Productions, will create for Netflix. The Obamas plan to use Netflix to help overcome the ideological schism fostered by the current political environment, in both the United States and globally. Touching on issues regarding gender and racial equality, Obama told Okta’s thousands of conference goers that he’s “putting [his] money on” the effort toward achieving equality “through Netflix and through [his] foundation.”
Obama recently appeared on Netflix as the first guest on David Letterman’s new Netflix show, My Next Guest Needs No Introduction. Since the Obamas’s deal with the streaming platform became official on Monday, some Netflix users have announced their intent to cancel their subscriptions to the service, some alluding to the deal as too “political.”
Based on Obama’s speech at the Okta conference, that sounds like the sort of attitude Higher Ground Productions will seek to overcome with its Netflix content.
