With a walkout, Netflix’s staff in Hollywood responded to the jokes from stand-up comic Dave Chappelle about transgenders in his new Netflix special. The employees held ‘Hate Isn’t Funny’ and ‘Black Trans Lives Matter’ sign boards as they protested around Netflix’s location on Sunset Boulevard.
There have been mixed reactions, including criticisms for the jokes, to the Netflix show entitled ‘The Closer’. The Netflix staff made many demands before their protest that relate to funding for not just the so-called below-the-line and above-the-line talent but also creative equity. The other demands concern further content from creative transgenders and the recruitment of transgenders in leadership positions at Netflix. The employees mainly demand Netflix acknowledge that transphobic content caused harm, especially to the African-American transgender community.
As per a Verge report, Netflix fired protest organizer B. Pagels-Minor as he allegedly leaked metrics associated with the special show to the media. The former employee then said that he collected the information but never leaked it.
In the show, Chappelle discussed his battles with transgenders and his association with the late transgender comedian Daphne Dorman. To be precise, Chappelle talked about how Dorman supported his transgender jokes.
Before she committed suicide, Dorman tweeted that asserting authority over others requires one to regard themselves as superior to others. Describing Chappelle as “a master of his craft”, Dorman added that he did not view himself to be better than her. Instead, as for Dorman, Chappelle was only delivering punching as part of his job.
Before the demonstration, Netflix made a statement where it said that it not only values its transgender allies and colleagues but also understands the hurt that the show has caused. Netflix also stated that it respects the choice of any worker to perform a walkout and recognizes there is more work for it to do internally and on its content.