A handful of Netflix employees stage walkout to protest transgender jokes made by black American stand-up comedian Dave Chappelle in his special. All did not go as planned.
Several trans identifying and liberal individuals who — for now — work at Netflix have staged a walkout to protest Dave Chapelle’s hilarious new stand-up special. The protesters are demanding that Netflix remove Dave Chappelle’s special from their service and that they apology for causing them emotional stress and hurt.
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Netflix employees gathered in front of the video-on-demand streaming service office to protest Dave Chappelle’s, what they call “anti-transgender comments.” The small group of protestors demanded that Netflix remove the special from their service and chanted “trans live matter.”
‘We aim to use this moment to shift the social ecology around what Netflix leadership deems ethical entertainment,’ organizer Ashlee Marie Preston said.
Live footage released by Reuters shows small group of emotionally distressed white and black trans identifying people shout in protest at Netflix headquarters. Sadly for the small group, they were met with an even large group of counter-protestors who were supporting the comedian.
LIVE: Netflix employees protest Dave Chappelle’s anti-transgender comments https://t.co/QWPNr74Va1
— Reuters Showbiz (@ReutersShowbiz) October 20, 2021
The counter-protestors chanted “don’t cancel Dave” and “we like jokes” and almost drowned out the sound of the original anti-Chappelle protestors. A few of the trans identifying protestors seemed very distraught as they were peacefully confronted by counter-protestors.
The protest was the result of a “walkout” that was staged by a group of Netflix employees. The activists made demands that the platform should not host content that in anyway, shape or form criticises transgender people.
Recently turned trans-male, Elliot Page (Juno, The Umbrella Academy) expressed their support for the Netflix walkout on Twitter, stating: “I stand with the trans, nonbinary, and BIPOC employees at Netflix fighting for more and better trans stories and a more inclusive workplace.”
GamerGate meets Netflix.
Prominent female members of the gaming and comic book industry have also spoken out against Chappelle and Netflix’s decision to host his special. Controversial GamerGate activist and former scam-artist Anita Sarkeesian has also shown support for the walkout.
“This fear is real— I think about this constantly as I shift from critic to filmmaker and what opportunities will be closed to me because I have opinions. Who are the brave people funding the loud, opinionated, marginalized voices who have real amazing stories to tell??” The activist wrote on Twitter.
As of now Netflix have not issued a statement about the protest and likely wont considering the smashing success of the special as well as the outcry of support for Chappelle even from the LGBTQ community.