Comedian Dave Chappelle. — © AFP
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Netflix finds itself in turmoil after a special by comedian Dave Chappelle has shaken moods in the workplace. The reason for this are internal documents, which were later also leaked out. The employee allegedly responsible for that leak has now been fired.
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“We have let an employee go for sharing confidential, commercially sensitive information outside the company,” Netflix said in a statement. “We understand that the employee is motivated by disappointment and hurt by Netflix, but maintaining a culture of trust and transparency is at the heart of our business.” This transparency mainly refers to Netflix’s internal kitchen. The streaming service shares data with employees, but it is not intended for the outside world. Failure to do so may result in dismissal under company policy.
That data, released by media company Bloomberg, also included financial information about Dave Chappelle’s ‘The closer’ stand-up special. It causes a lot of commotion, because he laughs with transgender people and defends controversial statements by writer JK Rowling. According to Bloomberg, the special would have received 24.1 million dollars, his previous special Sticks & stones from 2019, got 23.6 million dollars. That’s more than current top hit Squid game, for which the streaming service paid 21.4 million dollars.
“No damage to the real world”
Ted Sarandos, co-CEO, has defended Chappelle’s special in a memo. It read: “We have a strong belief that on-screen content does not translate directly to real-world damage.” Sarandos also noted that figures such as Australian comedian Hannah Gadsby contribute to the company’s efforts to improve minority representation. But Gadsby reacted furiously. “You really didn’t pay me enough to deal with the real-world consequences of hate speech, which you now refuse to acknowledge. Fuck you and your immoral algorithm culture.”
Hundreds of employees – transgender people and those who support them – are now planning at Netflix a strike on October 20 because of the statements of Sarandos. “Trans Lives Matter, Trans Rights Matter. And as an organization, Netflix has failed to show concern for our mission to entertain the world by continually delivering content that harms our communities and consistently failing to create content that represents and uplifts trans content. We can and must do better!”, says the group.
Remarkably, Netflix itself says it encourages employees to show it openly when they disagree with the sentiment the company is conveying.
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