Netflix Staffers Walk Out in Dave Chappelle Special Fallout

Employees at streaming giant Netflix walked out of the company’s Los Angeles and New York offices Wednesday to demand more support of trans and non-binary employees who work at the company. The employee walk-out, which was also supported with a solidarity rally and through statements of support from organizations around the country and high-profile Hollywood talent, comes in the wake of the company’s handling of a controversial new comedy special from comedian Dave Chappelle, and marks one of the largest and most extensive public relations crises yet for the streaming giant, which just yesterday reported 214 million global subscribers. The largest rally was in Los Angeles, where employees and supporters met some Chappelle supporters outside of the company’s offices. Staffers have also presented Netflix with a list of demands, first published in The Verge, which contains asks to better nurture trans and non-binary talent and adding disclaimers to certain titles that contain transphobic content and other forms of hate speech. The controversy and ensuing fall-out stems from Netflix’s release of Chappelle’s The Closer on Oct. 5. The special, which was among Netflix's most-popular U.S. titles after its release, contains lengthy disparaging remarks about trans people and the trans community, including comparing the trans community to people who wear blackface. Netflix’s Next Act: Winning Over a Larger Share of TV Time Netflix executives had first vocally supported Chappelle and the content of his special while the company took action against two employees involved in Netflix’s trans employee resource group who had spoken out about the handling of the special. Now, though, the company is changing its tune. "We value our trans colleagues and allies, and understand the deep hurt that’s been caused,” the spokesperson said in a statement released ahead of the walkout. “We respect the decision of any employee who chooses to walk out, and recognize we have much more work to do both within Netflix and in our content.” 'I screwed up' Meanwhile, co-CEO Ted Sarandos, who had previously supported Chappelle in two staff memos about the controversy, during which he declared that “content on screen doesn’t directly translate to real-world harm,” went on an apology tour of sorts Tuesday night, telling several Hollywood trade publications that "I screwed up” in his communication with employees. But he continued to stand by Netflix’s decision to release The Closer and said it will remain on the platform. (It’s worth noting that Netflix employees have not asked for the special to be removed from the platform.) Internally, the special and executives’ comments riled employees who had already expressed concern about the effects of the special on viewers’ perception of trans people and on the trans community. Shortly after the special was released, a senior software engineer who is a member of the company’s trans employee resource group tweeted her frustration about the special. The employee, Terra Field, was terminated by the company, but she was later reinstated. Another member of the company’s trans employee resource group and a main organizer of the company walk-out, though, was also terminated. That employee, the former program manager B. Pagels Minor, told the New York Times that they were fired within hours of sharing information about the walkout in a company Slack channel. (Netflix says Pagels Minor was terminated for leaking sensitive metrics to Bloomberg, a charge that Pagels Minor denies.) “It’s not that we don’t understand comedy. It’s that this comedy has tones of hatred,” Pagels Minor told the Times. “And what are we going to do to mitigate that?” Netflix executives cheerily addressed investors Tuesday afternoon without mentioning of the fallout, and have denied that the special crosses the line into hate speech. Meanwhile, staffers like Field are asking for acknowledgement of the harm that transphobic and other bigoted content can cause, among other remedies. “Stop pretending that transphobia in media has no effect on society,” Field wrote in a Medium post ahead of the walk-out.

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Netflix Employees Walk Out as Fallout From Dave Chappelle Special Continues

Staffers around the country protest handling of transphobic content while executives backpedal

Kelsey Sutton

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Kelsey Sutton