By Vic Parsons | PinkNews via PrideNation.com
Trans employees at streaming giant Netflix are planning a company-wide walkout in response to the latest Dave Chappelle special.
The walkout, scheduled for 20 October, is being organised by Netflix’s internal trans employee resource group in response to a statement by co-CEO Ted Sarandos defending Chappelle’s The Closer, according to The Verge. The comedy special has been widely criticised for its anti-trans content.
“Trans Lives Matter. Trans Rights Matter. And as an organisation, 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 [people],” wrote a leader of the trans employee resource group in an internal organising message. “We can and must do better!”
Chappelle’s latest special, which premiered on 5 October on Netflix, sees the comedian make explicit jokes about trans women’s genitals and defend DaBaby and JK Rowling, before declaring himself “Team TERF“.
In response, trans writer and showrunner Jaclyn Moore, who worked on Dear White People, quit her job at Netflix on 7 October, saying: “I will not work with them as long as they continue to put out and profit from blatantly and dangerously transphobic content.”
The backlash against the comic peaked this week with more than 7,000 people signing a Change.org petition urging Netflix to drop Chappelle’s special, saying: “By providing a platform to Dave Chappelle and his transphobic ‘jokes’, Netflix is perpetuating violence and hostility towards transgender people.”
