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Netflix Employees Indulge In A Walkout Protest Against Dave Chappelle's Stand-Up Special
Many Netflix employees walked out from the company's Los Angeles office on Wednesday (October 20) to protest against comedian Dave Chappelle's stand-up special that allegedly cracked some transphobic jokes. According to a news report in The New York Times, protestors have alleged that Chappelle's jokes promoted bigotry against transphobic people. The hashtags of 'Netflix Walkout' was also trending on social media. The protestors carried placards of 'Black Trans Live Matter', 'Transphobia Is Not A Joke' and 'Hate Isn't Funny'.
The employees of Netflix joined more than a hundred protestors and activists in the rallies. Apart from the Los Angeles protest of the Netflix employees, more staff of the OTT streaming platform in other offices also shut down their laptops abruptly and called it a wrap. The news report further added that it is still unclear as to how many employees of the company have participated in the walkout protests.
Joey Soloway who is the creator of the Amazon Prime Video's series Transparent was also a part of the protest and has urged Netflix to hire a transgender employee in its corporate board, also requesting other members of the film fraternity to have more transgender employees in their respective projects. He said during an interview amidst the protest, "I want to pitch to a trans person. I would love to have a trans person give me notes on my story. I want a trans agent. I want a trans manager. I want so many trans critics at newspapers."
The protestors also went on to outnumber the counter-protestors who were seen carrying placards that said, 'Dave Is Funny', 'Netflix Don't Cancel Free Speech' and 'Dave Is Funny.' One of the main protestors was Ashlee Marie Preston who is known for being featured on the Netflix documentary Disclosure that revolved around Hollywood's impact on the transgender community. Preston revealed in the protest interview that the Netflix employees have to be careful while speaking to the news media. The streaming giant also released a statement regarding the protest. The statement read as "We value our trans colleagues and allies and understand the deep hurt that's been caused," Netflix said in a statement. "We respect the decision of any employee who chooses to walk out and recognize we have much more work to do both within Netflix and in our content."
