Comedian Dave Chappelle's new special on Netflix continues to draw backlash for the jokes he makes about the transgender community with that very community inside Netflix now threatening to stage a walkout at the video streaming company's office on October 20.
"Trans Lives Matter. Trans Rights Matter. And as an organization, 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 content. We can and must do better!” wrote a leader of the trans ERG in an internal organizing message, according to The Verge.
The planned walkout comes shortly after Terra Field, a trans writer, and two other writers were briefly suspended for attempting to enter a high-level meeting they were not invited to, though many on social media claimed it was in retaliation for Field publicly voicing opposition to Chappelle's special.
Netflix has reinstated me after finding that there was no ill-intent in my attending the QBR meeting. I've included the statement I requested below.
— Terra Field (@RainofTerra) October 13, 2021
I'm going to take a few days off to decompress and try to figure out where I'm at. At the very least, I feel vindicated. pic.twitter.com/lYxemYgRkJ
Field got a message from the company promising they will be able to attend a meeting to discuss the internal controversy.
Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos has stood by the special and said they will not be taking it off their platform, which only enraged some of the company's employees.