ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

Skip to main content

Netflix workers stage walk out over Dave Chappelle's transgender comments

People protest outside the Netflix building on Vine Street in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles, Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2021. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) People protest outside the Netflix building on Vine Street in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles, Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2021. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Share
LOS ANGELES -

About 100 people protested near Netflix's headquarters on Wednesday against the streaming pioneer's decision to release comedian Dave Chappelle's new special, which they say ridicules transgender people.

Netflix staff members, transgender rights advocates and public officials gathered on a sidewalk outside a Netflix office blocks away from the company's main 13-story Sunset Boulevard building in Los Angeles.

Demonstrators held signs proclaiming, "Trans Lives Matter" and "Team Trans" and chanted slogans like "What do we want? Accountability," "When do we want it? Now."

Netflix staff were outnumbered by members of the public, but the precise number was not clear. Netflix employees had called for a walkout.

Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos acknowledged in interviews before the walkout, "I screwed up" in how he spoke to Netflix's staff about Chappelle's special, "The Closer."

Sarandos previously defended the decision to air the show, saying Chappelle's language did not cross the line into inciting violence. Netflix posted record subscriber numbers on Tuesday.

"While we appreciate the acknowledgement of the screw-up, in his own words, we want to actually talk about what that repair looks like," said Ashlee Marie Preston, a transgender activist who came out in support of the Netflix employees.

Joey Soloway, creator of "Transparent," a now-ended streaming series on rival Amazon that had a transgender character, talked about the line that separates edgy jokes and harmful speech.

"People say to me, as a comedian, where's the line?" said Soloway. "The line is anything that makes it worse."

Not everyone supported that message. "...The idea that a small, angry mob can shape entertainment and silence people's speech is terrifying," said counterprotester Dick Masterson.

While employee protests against corporate policies have become common in Silicon Valley, this is believed to be the first such action at the pioneer streaming video company.

The controversy over "The Closer" is playing out against the backdrop of a company-wide diversity effort that began in 2018, after Netflix's former head of communications was fired for using a racial epithet in company meetings.

"It doesn't feel good to have been working at the company that put that out there," Netflix software engineer Terra Field wrote in a Medium post, referring to "The Closer." "Especially when we've spent years building out the company's policies and benefits so that it would be a great place for trans people to work."

(Reporting by Dawn Chmielewski in Los Angeles; editing by Kenneth Li and Cynthia Osterman) 

CTVNews.ca ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

Three men were injured after trying to subdue a man armed with a knife during afternoon prayers at a Montreal-area mosque Friday afternoon.

Police have arrested an 18-year-old woman who allegedly stole a Porsche and then ran over its owner in an incident that was captured on video.

Since she was a young girl growing up in Vancouver, Ginny Lam says her mom Yat Hei Law made it very clear she favoured her son William, because he was her male heir.

A 15-year-old boy who was the subject of an emergency alert in New Brunswick has been arrested.

The search for a missing six-year-old boy in Shamattawa is continuing Friday as RCMP hope recent tips can help lead to a happy conclusion.

Emergency crews in northern Ontario found the bodies of four people inside a home where a fire broke out Thursday night.

Local Spotlight

Getting a photograph of a rainbow? Common. Getting a photo of a lightning strike? Rare. Getting a photo of both at the same time? Extremely rare, but it happened to a Manitoba photographer this week.

An anonymous business owner paid off the mortgage for a New Brunswick not-for-profit.

They say a dog is a man’s best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.

A growing group of brides and wedding photographers from across the province say they have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars by a Barrie, Ont. wedding photographer.

Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.

The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.

It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.

A Good Samaritan in New Brunswick has replaced a man's stolen bottle cart so he can continue to collect cans and bottles in his Moncton neighbourhood.