Netflix Employees Protest Dave Chappelle Comedy Show

BoomRadioNG | October 21, 2021

About 100 people have protested outside Netflix’s headquarters over the airing of a comedy special by Dave Chappelle, which they say was transphobic.

Netflix staff and transgender activists staged the walkout outside the streaming giant’s Los Angeles offices.

Demonstrators called on Netflix to fund more trans and non-binary talent, and other measures to avoid “transphobia and hate speech”.

Ahead of the rally, Netflix issued a statement in support of the activists.

Dave Chappelle
Davej1006, CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>, via Wikimedia Commons

A video was also released featuring several Netflix stars, including Queer Eye’s Jonathan Van Ness and The Good Place actress Jameela Jamil, thanking people for taking part in the demonstration.

Other LGBT celebrities, including Elliot Page and Lilly Wachowski, voiced their support on social media.

Netflix has been mired in controversy over The Closer, in which stand-up comedy star Chappelle says “gender is a fact” and that LGBT people are “too sensitive”.

Paul Ayorinde