On Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2021, trans employees at Neflix organized a walkout and were joined by hundreds of sympathizers in the streets to protest the controversial Dave Chappelle special “The Closer.”
Furthermore, Netflix co-CEO and chief content officer Ted Sarandos‘ unilateral backing for screening the Chappelle special enraged the staff.
Sarandos told The Hollywood Reporter that he would not cease airing the Chappelle special and that adding a notice to warn potential viewers of possibly damaging words would be “inappropriate.”
“I do believe that putting the special on Netflix is consistent with our comedy offering, with Dave Chappelle’s comedy brand, and this is… one of those moments when there’s something on Netflix that you’re not going to enjoy.”
The huge group was endorsing the trans employees’ stance to push back against Chapelle and Netflix, according to Ashlee Marie Preston, who spoke to the press.
“Making members of the transgender community who work for your firm participate in the persecution of their own community is violent, and we’re here to disrupt that and stand in solidarity with the employees,” she said.
Netflix issued a statement before to the walkout acknowledging the “great hurt that has been caused.”
A Netflix spokeswoman said, “We value our trans coworkers and supporters, and we realize the great hurt that has been inflicted.” “We respect any employee who chooses to leave, and we acknowledge that we still have a lot of work to do both within Netflix and in our content.”
