Netflix suspends trans engineer for trying to barge into director-level meeting after tweeting that Dave Chappelle's standup special had put transgender lives at risk: CEO Ted Sarandos defends the comedian and refuses to cancel his show
Netflix has suspended three employees, including one, Terra Field, who criticized comedian Dave Chappelle's new comedy special in a series of tweets.
Field identifies herself on Twitter as a senior software engineer at Netflix and as trans.
'I work at @netflix,' Field tweeted. 'Yesterday we launched another Chappelle special where he attacks the trans community, and the very validity of transness -- all while trying to pit us against other marginalized groups.
'What we object to is the harm that content like this does to the trans community (especially trans people of color) and VERY specifically black trans women.
A Netflix software engineer, Terra Field wrote a lengthy Twitter thread about Dave Chappelle's special . She has since been suspended but Netflix say it 'was unrelated' to her tweets
Dave Chappelle continues to face backlash over the controversial contents of his latest Netflix special, The Closer
'Promoting TERF ideology (which is what we did by giving it a platform yesterday) directly harms trans people, it is not some neutral act. This is not an argument with two sides. It is an argument with trans people who want to be alive and people who don't want us to be,' Field tweeted.
'This all gets brushed off as offense though - because if we're just 'too sensitive' then it is easy to ignore us. I'm surprised I haven't had anyone call me (ironically) 'hysterical' yet today,' she continued
Field then went on to include a list of 38 trans and nonbinary men and women of color who she said had been killed, adding in each case that the victim 'is not offended.'
Over the course of more than 40 tweets Field explained the violence felt by transgender the gender non-conforming community
Field then went on to include a list of 38 trans and nonbinary men and women of color who she said had been killed, adding in each case that the victim 'is not offended.'
Last week, Jaclyn Moore, pictured, a trans showrunner on another Netflix show said she will no longer work for the streaming service following Dave Chappelle's 'transphobic' remarks
According to a person familiar with the matter, the three employees, including Field, joined a quarterly meeting for company directors and vice presidents without gaining authorization.
The person, who wasn't authorized to discuss the situation publicly, said the workers were suspended as a result of an investigation and not for speaking out, but for attending the virtual meeting uninvited.
'It is absolutely untrue to say that we have suspended any employees for tweeting about this show. Our employees are encouraged to disagree openly and we support their right to do so,' Netflix said in a statement on Monday.
In Field's posts, she said that Dave Chappelle was being criticized not because his comments are offensive but for the harm they do to the trans community, especially black women.
Chappelle has courted controversy with his jokes in which he asserts 'gender is a fact,' and criticizes what he says is the thin skin of the trans community.
LGBTQ activists have lashed out over the comments, with the National Black Justice Coalition calling on the streaming service to remove the program.
A top Netflix executive said Dave Chappelle's special The Closer doesn't cross 'the line on hate' and will remain on the streaming service despite fallout over the comedian's remarks about the transgender community.
In an internal memo, co-CEO Ted Sarandos told managers that 'some talent' may join third parties in calling for the show's removal.
Sarandos said bosses did not believe that Chappelle's work amounted to 'hate,' and that the company would not be removing the show despite pressure from artists.
Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos sent a memo to employees discussing the line between commentary and hate adding that Chappelle's comedy special would not be removed
'Some talent may join third parties in asking us to remove the show in the coming days, which we are not going to do,' Sarandos wrote, adding Chappelle is one of the most popular performers working today.
'We don't allow titles (on) Netflix that are designed to incite hate or violence, and we don't believe The Closer crosses that line.
'Some people find the art of stand-up to be mean-spirited but our members enjoy it, and it’s an important part of our content offering.
'I recognize, however, that distinguishing between commentary and harm is hard, especially with stand-up comedy which exists to push boundaries,' Sarandos wrote.
Netflix has declined to comment on the memo, which was reported on Monday by Variety.
In a statement, the media watchdog group GLAAD said that 'anti-LGBTQ content' violates Netflix's policy to reject programs that incite hate or violence.
GLAAD called on Netflix executives to 'listen to LGBTQ employees, industry leaders, and audiences and commit to living up to their own standards.'
When Chappelle's special was released last week, the group said that the comedian's 'brand has become synonymous with ridiculing trans people and other marginalized communities.'
Chappelle, 48, has been accused of transphobia in previous Netflix specials.
In The Closer he is at pains to stress that he does not hate transgender people, and tells a long anecdote about a trans woman comic, who he describes as a friend, who came to his defense in earlier entanglements with the community.
Last week as the controversy raged, the comic received a standing ovation at a sold out event at the Hollywood Bowl, telling the audience: 'If this is what being canceled is like, I love it.'
Comedian Dave Chappelle is under fire for making transphobic jokes in his new Netflix special
In the stand-up special - his sixth for the streaming service - Chappelle joked about Harry Potter author J K Rowling's 2019 statement that transgender women were not actually women and were a threat to her identity.
Rowling, 56, subsequently received a slew of hate messages and death threats for her comments on sex and gender after the incident, with the hashtag #RIPJKRowling trending on social media last year.
Rowling was then labeled a 'TERF' by the LGBTQ community - which stands for 'trans-exclusionary radical feminist.'
Chappelle joked that he embraced the label.
'I'm Team TERF. I agree. I agree, man,' Chappelle says in the special, aligning himself with the ousted writer.
'Gender is a fact,' he then remarks.
Harry Potter author JK Rowling stated in 2019 that transgender women were not actually women and were a threat to her identity
Chappelle adds: '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.'
In the contentious special, Chappelle also jokes that women today view transwomen the same way black people might view white women wearing blackface, and remarked that women are entitled to feel anger toward transwomen, since Caitlyn Jenner won Glamour magazine's 2015 Woman of the Year award.
'I'd be mad as sh*t if I was a woman,' Chappelle says during a problematic bit.
The star also jokes about the anatomy of transwomen in the special, joking that they lacked real female reproductive organs and that they did not have blood but 'beet juice.'
Jaclyn Moore, who was a writer and producer on the Netflix show Dear White People, tweeted that she worked with executives and others at the service who 'fought for important art' and that she told 'the story of my transition for @netflix.'
But she faces hate and attacks because 'I'm not a 'real woman,' Moore said who is vowing to boycott the platform.
'I will not work with them as long as they continue to put out and profit from blatantly and dangerously transphobic content,' she said on Twitter.
