A Netflix trans employee who criticized the streaming giant for launching Dave Chappelle’s “transphobic” comedy special has quit her job.
“This is not how I thought things would end,” wrote Terra Field in his resignation letter, “but I am relieved to have closure.”
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Field was working as a senior software engineer at Netflix, and she lashed out at Dave Chappelle and the streaming giant in a Twitter thread that quickly went viral in the days after her latest comedy special premiered on October 5.
Field’s Twitter thread, which has been liked more than 50,000 times, says that Chappelle’s special, The Closer, “attacks the trans community and the very validity of transsexuality” and attempts to “confront other marginalized groups.” . The thread went on to explain why trans people “are not offended.” The Closer has been widely condemned as transphobic; Netflix has rejected that it is incitement to hatred.
Field was later suspended from her position at Netflix after she attempted to “attend a directors meeting” to which she had not been invited. She was later reinstated in her job, and later explained why she felt the need to speak out against the streamer in an essay posted on Medium.
He said his goal was not to “cancel Chappelle,” adding that his criticism wasn’t even really directed at the comedian.
“Dave is not, and has never been, the cause of this problem: he is a symptom of it. That Dave believes the things he says and can say them with relative impunity is the result of the culture we live in: a culture that marginalizes and devalues trans people, “Field wrote.
On November 21, Field resigned from Netflix, sending a copy of his resignation letter to his team, posting it on his website, and sharing it with Netflix’s trans * employee resource group, which staged a company-wide strike at As a result of the controversy over the publication of transphobic content that occurred after Netflix maintained its decision to publish the Chappelle special.
Trans software engineer Terra Field leaves Netflix
In his resignation letter, Field said there is one person whose advice he always seeks: Netflix trans partner B. Pagels-Minor. (Pagels-Minor was fired by Netflix in October, claiming she shared information with the media about the economy and audience for comedian Dave Chappelle’s controversial one-hour special.)
“Shortly after B. was fired for something I didn’t do or think they did, I made a decision: sink or swim, I was going to walk alongside B. as they did with so many of us while they ran ERG Trans *” Field wrote in his resignation letter.
It continued: “Last week, B. had her son. They are both happy and healthy, and for me that is the note with which I would like to end this chapter of my life. I want to focus on the joy, not the pain. “
Field also thanked her team for making her feel “safe, supported and included” in the few months she worked with them, including for their “support throughout this ordeal.” He also thanked the ERG Trans *, stating that it is “impossible to underline how important the ERG was to me” and describing the other people in that group as “family.”
Finally, Field addressed the question of “what’s next.”
“I’m going to take a month to rest, recover, and consider what I want to do next,” he wrote. “I’ve been working full time since 2003 and I don’t think I’ve ever taken more than a week or two off at a time other than for sick leave.
“I hope that time allows me to remember the things I love and miss about this job.”
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