Key Sentence:
- About 100 people protested in front of Netflix’s headquarters over what they considered a transphobic comedy special by Dave Chapelle.
- Netflix employees and transgender activists hold a walk in front of the giant’s current office in Los Angeles.
Protesters are urging Netflix to fund more trans and non-binary talent. And other steps to avoid “transphobia and hate speech.” Before the rally, Netflix stated support of the activists. A video was also released with several Netflix stars, including Jonathan Van Ness of Queer Eye. And The Good Place actress Jamila Jamil, thanking them for participating in the demonstration.
Other LGBT celebrities, including Elliott Page and Lily Wachowski, have expressed their support on social media. Netflix was embroiled in a controversy over The Closer in which stand-up comedy star Chappelle said “gender is a fact” also that LGBT people were “too sensitive.”
Chappelle laughed off the adverse reaction and recently said: “If that’s the reason for his refusal, I like it.”
Netflix employees called for a rally, though it’s unclear how many of these employees were among the demonstrators outside the office. “They are here today, not because we don’t know how to joke. We are here because we fear the jokes will cost lives,” rally organizer Ashley Marie Preston said in an interview with AFP.
He accuses companies like Netflix of “capitalizing” stress and “using algorithmic science to manipulate. And change our perceptions of ourselves and one another.” Netflix boss Ted Sarandos previously defended the company’s decision to broadcast the show.
In a leaked notice to staff, he insisted that “screen content does not directly lead to real harm” and stressed the importance of protecting “artistic freedom. But in a later interview with Hollywood commercial publication Deadline, Sarandos said he had “disrupted internal communications.”
“I have to make sure that I acknowledge that the decision deeply hurt a group of our employees,” he added. The protests came a day after Netflix reported a record 213.5 million subscribers worldwide.