Ted Sarandos, the co-CEO of Netflix Inc defended the company’s call to stream a controversial Dave Chappelle comedy special featuring trans jokes as “artistic freedom.” “We don’t allow titles on Netflix that are designed to incite hate or violence, and we don’t believe ‘The Closer’ crosses that line,” he wrote in a memo last week obtained by Variety Monday.
“Particularly in stand-up comedy, artistic freedom is obviously a very different standard of speech than we allow internally as the goals are different: entertaining people versus maintaining a respectful, productive workplace.”
Netflix on Monday also suspended three of their employees who crashed an executive meeting, including Terra Field, a transgender worker who spoke out against the Chappelle special, according to a source.
“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,” Terra Field wrote in a series of viral tweets last week.
A Netflix spokesperson on contrary told Bloomberg News that none of the employees was suspended for their tweets and that the company encourages open disagreement. Field didn’t respond to a request for comment.