Video of Netflix logo painted over Warner Bros tower is altered
- Published on December 12, 2025 at 19:13
- 3 min read
- By Bill MCCARTHY, AFP USA
A video spreading across platforms purports to show the Netflix logo painted over the historic water tower at Warner Bros. Studios as the streaming powerhouse seeks to buy the global media giant's film and television studios and streaming services amid a bidding war with Paramount. But the companies said the clip is altered, and the visual effects artist who created the fake confirmed that to AFP.
"They replaced it THAT fast?? Netflix's PR team didn't even blink -- someone's definitely working double shifts," says a December 6, 2025 post sharing the clip on Instagram.
The video shows a drive-by view from Olive Avenue in Burbank, California of the iconic water tower at the Warner Bros. studio, with the Netflix logo stamped over the "WB."
Similar posts rocketed across Instagram and other platforms, including Facebook, Threads, X, YouTube, TikTok and LinkedIn.
The clip spread after Netflix announced December 5 that it had sealed an agreement to buy the film and television studios from Warner Bros. Discovery, as well as its HBO Max streaming operation (archived here). Three days later, Paramount countered with a hostile, all-cash tender offer to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery in its entirety, including CNN and other cable news properties that would be spun off under the Netflix deal.
US President Donald Trump -- who is closely allied with Larry Ellison, father of Paramount CEO David Ellison -- has said he would like to see CNN change ownership under the eventual sale.
The video of the Netflix logo painted over the Warner Bros. water tower, however, is not authentic.
"It is fake," a Warner Bros. Discovery spokesperson told AFP December 11. "The water tower still holds the WBD logo. It hasn't been painted over."
Netflix spokesman Adrian Zamora added in a December 11 email: "This isn't real. Nothing has changed with the WB water tower."
Reverse image searches and credits attached to some of the posts traced the video to Dontae Carter, a Las Vegas-based filmmaker, video editor and animator, who uploaded the clip to Instagram and TikTok December 6 (archived here). Both profiles make clear in their bios that Carter is a filmmaker (archived here and here).
Carter confirmed in a December 11 email that he used digital editing tools to add the Netflix "N" to the frame.
"The video is not real," he told AFP. "If only people looked at my page they would see I'm a VFX artist. I used Adobe After Effects and adobe premiere to alter the video."
Photos and videos AFP and other media organizations captured in the days before and after Netflix's announcement show the "WB" remains on the tower (archived here).
One local journalist, Pepe De La Torre, filmed the landmark on behalf of the Spanish magazine Avisos Contigo from the same spot on Olive Avenue on December 7 to prove that it had not been changed (archived here).
AFP has debunked other misinformation involving Netflix here.
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