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Dave Chappelle: Netflix employees publicly protest over transgender statements

2021-10-21T00:40:47.642Z


LGBTQ activists accuse Dave Chapelle of inciting hatred in his Netflix special. Now employees of the streaming service in Los Angeles have also demonstrated against the comedian's statements.


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Demo in front of the Netflix headquarters in Los Angeles

Photo: MARIO ANZUONI / REUTERS

Employees of the streaming service Netflix and demonstrators protested against a show by US comedian Dave Chappelle that was criticized as anti-transgender.

Dozens of people gathered outside the Netflix headquarters in Los Angeles on Wednesday after Chappelle's remarks about transgender people had become more and more controversial in the past few days.

"We want to provide additional clarity about why the jokes are harmful," said protest organizer Ashlee Marie Preston.

It is not just about Chappelle, but basically about the question of how companies derive profits from "tensions".

The protest sparked on Chappelle's show "The Closer".

The African-American comedian had made fun of transgender people and compared, among other things, trans women with the blackfacing method of representation, which is frowned upon as racist.

He also stated that there had been improvements for sexual minorities in a few years that black people had not achieved in decades.

Chappelle himself says at the beginning of the new show that he hopes to achieve the "liberation of the debate".

This debate is about victim roles, about competition from marginalized groups in America, about the context in which these groups exist and fight for their rights.

Critics accuse Chappelle of promoting possible violence against transgender people with some particularly drastic statements in his special.

The topic had also caused heated debates internally at Netflix in recent weeks.

Criticism was provoked, among other things, by an internal letter from program director Ted Sarandos that had become public, in which he stated that content on the screen did not have "directly" harmful effects in real life.

Sarandos also stressed the need to defend "artistic freedom".

Netflix suspended several people

Sarandos later admitted mistakes.

"I screwed up," he told several Hollywood publications.

He should have initially admitted that employees felt "pain" in the face of Netflix decisions.

In the dispute, three Netflix employees have since been suspended for disrupting a virtual executive meeting on the matter. One of them was Terra Field, a transgender herself, who advocates warning “The Closer” and promoting more “gay and transgender comedians and talent” on Netflix. A Netflix employee was fired for disclosing internal information about the cost of the offending "The Closer" episode.

In the debate, several artists sided with the transgender activists.

The lesbian comedian Hannah Gadsby, who makes programs for Netflix herself, called the streaming service an "immoral algorithm cult".

Organizations advocating for the rights of gay, bisexual and transsexuals point to studies showing that stereotypes about minorities have harmful effects in real life.

jok / AFP

Source: spiegel

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