Netflix Trans employees plan walkout in protest of Dave Chappelle special

Trans employees and allies at Netflix are planning a walkout
on October 20 in protest of Co-CEO Ted Sarandos’ comments regarding
Dave Chappelle’s new special “The Closer”. 

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Variety reports that a leader of the streamer’s trans
employee resource group wrote the following in a message to members: “Trans
Lives Matter. Trans Rights Matter. And as an organization, Netflix has
continually failed to show deep care in our mission to Entertain the World by
repeatedly releasing content that harms the Trans community and continually
failing to create content that represents and uplifts Trans content. We can and
must do better!”

Netflix’s Most Twitter account dedicated to LGBTQ+ content
posted Wednesday, “We can’t always control what goes on screen. What we can
control is what we create here, and the POV we bring to internal
conversations.”

On Monday, Sarandos had
defended Chappelle’s special, which has been accused of containing transphobic
and homophobic content, in a memo to staff, reports Variety.com.

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“Chappelle is one of the most popular stand-up comedians
today, and we have a long standing deal with him. His last special ‘Sticks
& Stones,’ also controversial, is our most watched, stickiest and most
award winning stand-up special to date,” Sarandos wrote. 

Netflix also said the company encourages
employees to “disagree openly” with the sentiment.

“Dave Chappelle’s specials are consistently the most-watched
comedy specials on Netflix, and have earned many awards, including both an Emmy
and a Grammy for ‘Sticks & Stones,’” a Netflix spokesperson said.

“We
support artistic expression for our creators. We also encourage our employees
to disagree openly,” the statement further reads.

American stand up comedian Dave Chappelle started facing backlash for controversial remarks made in his newest comedy special.

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The 48-year-old comedian continued to make jokes directed at the LGBTQ+ community — specifically the trans community — with references to his past dust-ups for similar humor in his previous standup acts, reports people.com.

“Gender is a fact. Every human being in this room, every human being on earth, had to pass through the legs of a woman to be on earth. That is a fact,” Chappelle said in The Closer.