A walkout at Netflix was staged by the company's trans employees and advocates on Wednesday due to the streaming service's support of Dave Chappelle's stand-up special, The Closer.
The walkout was referred to as a "virtual walkout" because a number of work-from-home employees were encouraged "not do any work for Netflix and instead engage in content that does support the trans community and donate to charities." Supporters who were physically present rallied outside of Netflix's Hollywood location despite being met by a number of counter-protesters.
Wednesday's protest was planned in response to Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos' defense of the comedy special. Despite trans employees expressing their disappointment in Dave Chappelle's jokes, which were considered transphobic, Serandos openly supported The Closer and suspended three employees who attempted to crash an internal meeting addressing the situation. Sarandos later admitted that he "screwed up the internal communication."
"I say that because I respect them deeply, and I love the contribution they have at Netflix," Sarandos said of employees who were offended by the special. "They were hurting, and I should've recognized that first."
Prior to the walkout, a list of demands was released, which included more investment in trans and non-binary content and talent. Protesters also requested that more trans people be placed in leadership roles and that potentially transphobic content be flagged on the Netflix app. In the list of demands, the request to pull Dave Chappelle's stand-up from the platform was not mentioned.
Source: The Verge
