Former President Barack and former first lady Michelle Obama may not have the clout of the White House behind them any longer, but that hasn’t prevented them from stuffing their pockets with vast amounts of money after they left the office.
After reportedly signing a massive multi-million dollar book deal in 2017, the ex-first couple has now reportedly signed a similarly massive multi-year production deal with popular video streaming service Netflix.
The New York Post reported that the Obama’s production deal with Netflix could be in the neighborhood of $50 million, an eyebrow-raising sum that appears somewhat shady when the executives believed responsible for arranging that deal are considered.
It is thought that the major deal was ushered along by top executive Ted Sarandos, chief of creative content for Netflix, who also happened to be a top donation bundler for Obama’s presidential campaigns.
Sarandos, along with his wife Nicole Avant, helped bundle together upwards of $600,000 in campaign donations for Obama in 2012. That was after Avant had been appointed by Obama to serve as U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas from 2009-2011 in his first time, quite the gig if you can get it.
Avant’s father, music industry executive Clarence Avant, was also a big bundler for Obama’s presidential efforts, bringing together roughly $450,000 combined over the two campaign seasons.
The multi-year deal with Netflix will have the Obama’s produce “a diverse mix of content” which could include “scripted series, unscripted series, docuseries, documentaries and features,” that will be highlighted by the streaming service all around the globe.
The work of the Obama’s new production company, Higher Ground Productions LLC, is expected to largely focus on promoting “greater empathy and understanding between peoples and help them share their stories with the entire world.”
More likely, it will be a bunch of leftist progressive tripe intended to propagandize the masses who subscribe to and regularly watch Netflix.
That deal comes about a year after the Obama’s signed a $65 million book deal with Penguin Random House to publish their memoirs, as well as while Obama is reportedly bringing in major million-dollar donations to his Obama Foundation and charging $400,000 fees for speaking appearances.
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Ironically, those speeches tend to focus on grassroots community organizing and the plethora of problems faced by the poor, two groups that only wish they could see the sums of money being raked in over this past year by the Obama’s.
While there is no law against former presidents cashing in on their stature, and capitalism encourages individuals to make money however they can, this nevertheless appears more than a little scandalous, all things considered.