Netflix Co-CEO Blasts Employee Anger On Dave Chappelle's 'The Closer,' Claiming Jokes Don't Create Violence Against LGBTQ People

Netflix Inc NFLX co-CEO Ted Sarandos has pushed back for a second time within a week against growing unhappiness within his company on the content of its Dave Chappelle special “The Closer,” which a growing number of employees consider being transphobic and homophobic.

What Happened: In a companywide email obtained by Variety, Sarandos claimed employees who were offended by “The Closer” offered evidence that “we’ll always have titles some members and employees dislike or believe are harmful.” He also sought to frame the growing controversy as a free speech issue.

“Our goal is to entertain the world, which means programming for a diversity of tastes,” Sarandos wrote. “This member-centric view has driven our growth over the last 20 years, despite all the competition, and remains Netflix’s north star today. We also support artistic freedom to help attract the best creators, and push back on government and other censorship requests.”

Sarandos also dismissed statements by Netflix employees that warned offensive comments made about the LGBTQ demographic in “The Closer” and other programming could create real-life violence against this community.

“With ‘The Closer,’ we understand that the concern is not about offensive-to-some content but titles which could increase real-world harm (such as further marginalizing already marginalized groups, hate, violence, etc.),” he continued. “Last year, we heard similar concerns about ‘365 Days’ and violence against women. While some employees disagree, we have a strong belief that content on screen doesn’t directly translate to real-world harm.”

Sarandos also insisted Netflix was “working hard to ensure marginalized communities aren’t defined by a single story,” and said the key to that effort is “increasing diversity on the content team itself.” He cited Netflix titles including “Sex Education,” “Orange is the New Black,” “Control Z” and a stand-up comedy special with the Australian lesbian comic Hannah Gadsby as evidence of Netflix’s commitment to diversity.

“Our hope is that you can be hugely inspired by entertaining the world, while also living with titles you strongly believe have no place on Netflix,” Sarandos stated. “This will not be the last title that causes some of you to wonder if you can still love Netflix. I sincerely hope that you can,” he concluded.

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Why It Matters: Sarandos’ letter comes in the aftermath of reports that the Netflix employee resource group Trans* and their supporters will use Oct. 20 as a “day of rest” walkout to protest the Chappelle special and the executive leadership’s continued defense of the comic and his jokes, particularly his comments on transgender individuals.

“What we object to is the harm that content like this does to the trans community (especially trans people of color) and VERY specifically Black trans women,” tweeted Terra Field, an openly transgender Netflix employee last week when the situation began to metastasize within Netflix. “People who look like me aren’t being killed. I’m a white woman, I get to worry about Starbucks writing ‘Tara’ on my drink.

“This all gets brushed off as offense though — because if we're just ‘too sensitive’ then it is easy to ignore us. I'm surprised I haven't had anyone call me (ironically) ‘hysterical’ yet today.”

Photo: Dave Chappelle, courtesy of Netflix.