New Netflix drama Dear White People sparks calls for boycott

On Wednesday, Netflix debuted the first trailer for Dear White People, a series adapted from a 2014 Sundance film of the same name, and within 48 hours, some customers were calling for a boycott of the streaming service for what they perceived as racism against white people.

After the trailer for Dear White People was posted, people began to post screenshots of their cancelled subscriptions.

I have cancelled my #Netflix account because of their show #dearwhitepeople and support #BoycottNetflix

— David Cubbage (@jdcubbage) February 9, 2017

The creator of the show, Justin Simien, responded to the boycott yesterday evening.

"For me, it was really profound, encouraging in a weird way," Simien told Entertainment Today on Thursday.

"It just brought more attention to the series. Thanks, white supremacists, you really helped me promote my show," he jokingly continued, adding: "I'm a little grateful, I guess, to the insanity."

The idea behind Dear White People is that it is a satirical look at students of colour navigating a "post-racial America" at the fictional Winchester University. When the film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2014, it was before the events that led to the Black Lives Matter movement and the controversial election that shined a light on the racial divide in the nation.

"It does what the show is trying to do, which is to show you where we actually are, not where we think we are," Simien concludes.

Dear White People premieres April 28 on Netflix. Watch the trailer here: