Three Netflix employees, including one who is transgender and has openly criticized the network over a comedy special in which Dave Chappelle made jokes about the LGBTQ community, have been suspended.
The company denies suspending the employee, Terra Fields, over her comments on the special. Instead, it was because she and two other employees crashed a meeting without an invitation, Netflix told the media.
“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,” a Netflix spokesperson said in an email.
The meeting was a quarterly business review with the company’s director-level employees. According to the Verge, the three employees did not qualify and were not invited, failing to alert the meeting organizers they would show up.
Field, a senior Netflix software engineer in San Francisco, tweeted criticism of the streaming service last week after it released Chappelle’s comedy special The Closer over jokes deemed to be transphobic.
“I work at Netflix. Yesterday we launched another Chappelle special where he attacks the trans community, and the very validity of transness – all while trying to pit us against other marginalized groups. You’re going to hear a lot of talk about ‘offense.’ We are not offended,” Field tweeted.
I work at @netflix. Yesterday we launched another Chappelle special where he attacks the trans community, and the very validity of transness – all while trying to pit us against other marginalized groups. You’re going to hear a lot of talk about “offense”.
We are not offended ?
— ? Terra Fied ? (@RainofTerra) October 7, 2021
“This is not an argument with two sides,” Field said in a separate tweet. “It is an argument with trans people who want to be alive and people who don’t want us to be.”
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In the latest special, Chappelle said the transgender community has “thin skin,” meaning they are easily offended.
“In our country, you can shoot and kill a (man), but you better not hurt a gay person’s feelings,” Chappelle said in the special.
At the meeting, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos defended the platform’s decision to air the special, according to Variety. After the meeting, Sarandos sent an email to employees.
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“Several of you have also asked where we draw the line on hate,” Sarandos said in the email. “We don’t allow titles on Netflix that are designed to incite hate or violence, and we don’t believe The Closer crosses that line. I recognize, however, that distinguishing between commentary and harm is hard, especially with stand-up comedy which exists to push boundaries. Some people find the art of stand-up to be mean spirited but our members enjoy it, and it’s an important part of our content offering.”
Netflix said it has opened an internal investigation into the three suspended employees.
