Last week, comedienne Amy Schumer’s new special titled “The Leather Special” dropped on Netflix. In light of some scathing reviews, however, the video streaming provider is dropping its 5-star rating system.
The Verge reported this week that Netflix will be ditching its 5-star rating system in favor of a “thumbs up, thumbs down” system.
“Five stars feels very yesterday now,” Netflix vice president of product Todd Yellin said. “We’re spending many billions of dollars on the titles we’re producing and licensing, and with these big catalogs, that just adds a challenge.”
Last year, Business Insider reported that the streaming giant was looking to move away from its current rating system. During beta testing, Yellin said they received a 200 percent increase in ratings.
A majority of reviews of Schumer’s comedy special received a 1-star rating. Schumer took to Instagram and blamed “alt-right trolls” for converging onto Netflix and giving her horrible reviews.
“I am so proud of my special and grateful to all the people spreading love on line about it,” Schumer wrote in her Instagram post. “I am the first female comic who is selling out arenas all over the world and so grateful for that. I am embarrassed for the ‘journalists’ who report on trolls activities as if it’s news.”
She continued. “It’s indicative of administration right now. Anyone who reported that ‘viewers aren’t happy’ with my special, it would have been cool if you did a moment of research before posting. The alt right organized trolls attack everything I do.”
However, many of her own fans thought her comedy special was terrible.
Amy Schumer’s new Netflix comedy special is laughably bad, which is the only laugh you’ll get from it. And I say that as a fan.
— Hey_Drienne (@Hey_Drienne) March 15, 2017
My wife’s a fan, so we watched Amy Schumer on Netflix. My wife hated it. I told her this would happen when Amy had to write her own jokes.
— Beet Farmer (@farmer_beet) March 15, 2017
A final thought… Against popular opinion, I’ve long been a fan of Amy Schumer. And I still respect her. But this latest special is…Meh.
— Stoli (@CRStoli) March 17, 2017
Pro Tip: I’m a fan, but the new Amy Schumer special is so gross, I only made it 8 mins. It took 20 mins of Zootopia just to feel okay again.
— Ian Punnett (@deaconpunnett) March 15, 2017
So, while Netflix hasn’t clearly stated that they’re getting rid of their ratings system due to Schumer’s special, the timing is odd and suspicious at the very least.
