The controversy over the Dave Chappelle Netflix special The closer continued today with allegations that employees had raised concerns about the document before its debut, reports of a planned strike next week by and in support of the company’s trans employees, and a leaked memo from the company’s co-CEO. , Ted Sarandos, who argues that violent or abusive content does not track viewers to harm others.
A. report Bloomberg said Netflix employees raised flags over The closer in the days leading up to its release, specifically “that a series of jokes about gender-neutral pronouns and the genitalia of transgender people was potentially inflammatory and harmful.”
Sarandos apparently addressed those and other concerns in a memo sent to employees Monday. According to Variety, the co-CEO wrote on “tradeoffs” and “the principles that guide our team’s content choices,” before focusing on “titles that could increase damage in the real world.” Sarandos wrote that “we strongly believe that screen content does not directly translate to real-world harm.” As evidence, he cited data showing that “screen violence has grown tremendously in the last thirty years, especially with self-shooters, yet violent crime has dropped significantly in many countries.”
News Primer reached out to Netflix to comment on both the alleged memorandum and the report on staff concerns, but did not immediately receive a response.
On the company’s Twitter feed dedicated to LGBTQ + storytelling, Has to, commenters weren’t convinced of the company’s motives.
In response to a series of tweets from the people maintaining the account, including “sorry we haven’t been posting, this week sucks,” the commenters said:
“Excuse me, why _ YOU_ aren’t defending” our “community? You recognize how bad your company is, right? Please tell me what you recognize “
AND:
“… this year I gave myself the gift of unsubscribing from Netflix, because I will not give my money to companies that finance and spread transphobia (and suspend trans employees for opposing it).”
Or more directly:
“Eliminate this sanctimonious b # llsh * tj # ck * ng hypocrites”
sorry we haven’t been posting this week sucks (🧵)
– Most (@Most) October 13, 2021
It seems that some Netflix employees are not convinced either.
Transgender employees and their co-workers plan to go on strike next week to protest the broadcast giant’s stance. The closer, according to the Los Angeles Times. They urge the cohorts to “not work for Netflix that day” in order to “challenge the very principles of our company.”