Netflix employees staged a walk out on Wednesday, Oct. 20 in a protest against Dave Chapelle’s latest stand-up special. The walk out was held in Los Angeles, Calif. and was attended by hundreds of people, including Netflix employees, celebrities and local activists.
In addition to the walk out, remote workers staged their own protest by shutting off their laptops and calling off from work at 12 p.m.
“The Closer” was released on Tuesday, Oct. 5, which has prompted backlash from critics for transphobic and homophobic language. The walk out and backlash subsequently caused the hashtag #NetflixWalkOut to become a trending topic on the social media platform Twitter.
In response to Chapelle’s stand-up special, creator of the Amazon Prime show “Transparent” Joey Soloway has called on Netflix to hire a transgender person to the company’s corporate board. Other activists listed demands to hire more transgender people, provide disclaimers for transphobic content, and produce more content centering on trans and non-binary people. They also requested that Chapelle be removed from Netflix’s promotional materials.
Comedian Seven Graham also attended the protest.
“We are employees, but we are members, too. We believe that this [c]ompany can and must do better in our quest to entertain the world, and that the way forward must include more diverse voices in order to avoid causing harm,” Netflix trans employees wrote in their letter listing their demands.
The protest was organized by activists, one of which was Ashlee Marie Preston.
Former Netflix employee B. Pagels-Minor also attended the protest. According to Netflix, Pagels-Minor was fired for sharing confidential documents with outside sources. However, Pagels-Minor’s lawyer denied Netflix’s claims. The firing has caused even more controversy for Netflix as critics have defended Pagels-Minor.
“We aren’t fighting WITH Netflix. We’re fighting FOR Netflix. We all know how great it can be and that it’s not there yet,” employee Gabrielle Korn wrote on Twitter.
Celebrities such as Elliot Page and Lilly Wachowski have announced their support for the Netflix employees involved in the walk out.
“I stand with the trans, nonbinary and BIPOC employees fighting at Netflix for more and better trans stories and a more inclusive workplace #NetflixWalkout,” Page wrote on Twitter.
Other comedians such as Damon Wayans have defended Chapelle.
In reaction to the backlash, Netflix co-chief executive Ted Sarandos has noted that there were issues with communication with staff, as well as noted that the controversy surrounding Chapelle’s special should have been discussed with more “humanity.”
On the day of the protest, Netflix announced their support for the walkout.
“We value our trans colleagues and allies and understand the deep hurt that’s been caused,” Netflix said. “We respect the decision of any employee who chooses to walk out and recognize we have much more work to do both within Netflix in our content.”
Prior to the walkout, Sarandos sent a memo to staff, which said that “content on screen doesn’t directly translate to real world harm.”
Overall, activists hope that Netflix executives will listen to their demands, but only time will tell how Netflix will respond to their ongoing public relations crisis.
