Update 10/16/2021 11:20am:

The backlash Dave Chappelle has been facing since the release of his comedy special ‘The Closer’ has reportedly created issues in the Netflix offices. Recently, an employee was fired after they leaked confidential fiscal information related to Chappelle’s comedy special.

The company released a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, saying, “We have let go of an employee for sharing confidential, commercially sensitive information outside the company. We understand this employee may have been motivated by disappointment and hurt with Netflix, but maintaining a culture of trust and transparency is core to our company.” News of this comes after it was revealed that the fired employee was staging a walkout for trans employees at the company on October 20.

According to reports, the former employee reportedly leaked information to Bloomberg, noting that Netflix spent $24.1 million on Chappelle’s latest special ‘The Closer,’ and $23.6 million on his 2019 show, Sticks & Stones. That is reportedly more than the $21.4 million they spent on their latest successful series, Squid Game.

The former employee is a Black person who has spoken on the matter since being fired. The former employee went on to say, “All these white people are going around talking to the press and speaking publicly on Twitter, and the only person who gets fired is the Black person who was quiet the entire time. That’s absurd, and just further shows that Black trans people are the ones being targeted in this conversation.”

source: The Hollywood Reporter

Original 10/11/2021 3:32pm:

Reports surfaced noting that Netflix recently suspended a trans employee and two other employees after they blasted Dave Chappelle’s new stand-up special ‘The Closer.’

It was noted that Terra Field, a senior software engineer for the company who identifies as trans and uses she/her pronouns, was suspended after she and two other employees stormed the “QBR” meeting. The meeting is reportedly a two-day quarterly business review that brings together the top 500 employees at the streaming platform.

While the meeting was a quarterly business review, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos asked other executives how the company should respond to employee and talent concerns over Chappelle's recent special. At that point, Field and the two other employees reportedly interjected.

Netflix claims they didn’t suspend Field and the other two employees for their criticism of special, but more for them storming the meeting uninvited. A spokesperson for Netflix said, “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.”

As of now, an investigation was launched into the three individuals who stormed into the meeting. News of this comes after Sarandos reportedly sent out a staff memo that was in support of Chappelle’s special. Sarandos went on to say, “Particularly in stand-up comedy, artistic freedom is obviously a very different standard of speech than we allow internally as the goals are different: entertaining people versus maintaining a respectful, productive workplace.”

source: Variety