Queer News Tonight has extensively reported on the release of Dave Chappell comedy special on Netflix. Yesterday, the head of queer editorial at Netflix reported to work in person for the first time, just to walk out. Gabrielle Korn, who heads up Netflix’s LGBTQ+ hub “Most,” is among a string of employees who vowed to walk out of the company Wednesday morning after Netflix stood by its decision to platform the anti-transgender comedy special “The Closer” by Dave Chappelle for two weeks. The company has since started to backtrack support for the special. Korn is among those who Monday tweeted plans to leave the office amid growing discontent over the company’s defense of Chappelle and retaliation against transgender employees who have raised concerns.
More than a hundred members of the media lined Vine Street, home to a Netflix office where workers walked off the job at 10:30 a.m. They were led by the trans activist Ashlee Marie Preston, who does not work at the company but has conducted training at Netflix. Preston said at the rally “It isn’t just about Netflix. It’s about a corporate culture that manipulates the algorithmic sciences to distort the way that we perceive ourselves and one another. It is the emergence of a hate economy, of corporations profiting and making money off of us getting at one another’s throats.” Preston said that she and others had asked Chappelle to engage in a conversation about the special but that he had declined.
She said Wednesday’s demonstration did not seek to “cancel” the comedian but invite accountability for the real-world harm he caused against a backdrop of what is expected to be the deadliest year on record for Black transgender women. Hundreds of LGBTQ+ protesters and allies flooded the plaza in front of the building, chanting, “Trans lives matter” as security circled the perimeter and police helicopters circled overhead.
The crowd was met with forceful counter-demonstrators demanding that the Chappelle special be allowed to remain on Netflix. Noticeably absent from the action were Netflix employees themselves who did walk out but stood silently in literal shadow declining to speak to media, even off the record. Amid preparations for the walkout, a Twitter account backing trans employees within the company released on Monday a bulleted list of demands for Netflix leadership that included an increase in investment in transgender content on the platform to greater control over editorial decisions for LGBTQ+ employees.
The demands come in the wake of a protracted battle between Netflix, its own employees and the wider trans community over the release of Chappelle’s latest special, during which he misgenders a former friend who died by suicide after defending him, complaints that transgender people accuse him of “punching down” and suggests that only White people are queer. Netflix yesterday issued a press release that they actually supported the walk out. They stated “We value our trans colleagues and allies, and understand the deep hurt that’s been caused. We respect the decision of any employee who chooses to walk out, and recognize we have much more work to do both within Netflix and in our content.” Many celebrities joined in support of the walkout. Queer News Tonight will continue to follow this story.