The Human Rights Campaign has issued a scathing rebuke to Netflix.
For the first time in five years, the HRC excluded the streaming service from its list of “Best Places to Work” for queer people. The reason: Dave Chappelle’s comedy special The Closer, in which the comic made jokes about transgender anatomy and disparaged LGBTQ people.
“Given the harm experienced by transgender workers at Netflix as a result of the company’s handling of the release of The Closer, HRC has suspended Netflix’s Corporate Equality Index score and will not be rewarding it with a ‘Best Places to Work’ distinction in the 2022 CEI,” the HRC said in a statement.
Netflix responded with a statement of its own, saying it “respectfully disagrees” with the exclusion.
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“While we have more work to do, we’ve made real strides on inclusion, including for our LGBTQ+ colleagues,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
“For example, we offer comprehensive transgender and non-binary-inclusive care in our U.S. health plans as well as adoption, surrogacy, and parental leave for same-sex couples. And we’ve also worked hard to increase representation on screen. Netflix is the only major entertainment company to have commissioned and published independent research into diversity in our content so that we can better measure our progress.”
In an interview with NBC, Jay Brown, senior vice president of research and training at HRC, revealed that the LGBTQ-rights group had initially considered deducting 25 points from Netflix’s overall score before deciding on the suspension.
Since 2017, Netflix had scored a perfect 100 on the HRC’s “Best Places to Work” Index.
The controversy over The Closer began with release of the special back in October 2021. LGBTQ employees at Netflix staged a mass walkout and released harsh criticism of CEO Ted Sarandos, calling on him to pull the special from the streaming service. Sarandos and Netflix have thus far refused.
Chappelle, for his part, said he would agree to meet with trans activists to discuss his comments, though only if they viewed the special first and admitted that comic Hannah Gadsby isn’t funny.
Related: Dave Chappelle probably won’t appreciate what Cedric The Entertainer just said about him
Creamsicle
I’m not seeing how any of this is a direct result of Chappelle’s special being on the platform.
Unpopular opinion: Chapelle kind of called out the Superficial Left. In summer of 2020 it was trendy for privileged people to go on Insta and TikTok to tell everyone that we ALL needed to have uncomfortable discussions about race, as if that would fix racism in the time it takes for a trend to be replaced.
Then Dave Chapelle asked: “Why was it easier for Bruce Jenner to change his gender than it was for Cashus Clay to change his name?” and the Superficial Left went apoplectic.
I think his defending of Da Baby is misplaced. That guy made his own bed with ignorant comments about HIV/AIDS, followed by an ignorant piece of work about HIV/AIDS. And then he just kept doubling down about his ignorant and incorrect opinion on HIV/AIDS.
People didn’t like what he said and he kept digging a deeper hole, but I guess if Chapelle is a fan, he must feel differently. I have no strong opinions about Da Baby one way or the other. I’m not really into insult rappers, besides listening to Megan Thee Stallion sometimes.
Mack
I think that Chappelle question about how it’s easier for Jenner to change sex than Cassius Clay to change his name shows his stupidity. We’re talking 50+ years ago and things have change dramatically in those years. Hell, “his kind” can now eat in restaurants with white folks.
Cam
Cute how you’re pretending not to understand that Chappelle is talking about things that are 70 years apart.
bachy
I find Chapelle’s comedy specials hilarious, but I’ve also howled with laughter at Louis CK’s gay jokes, so what do I know? But I do believe that having a sense of humor and being able to laugh at oneself is a good thing: in fact, it’s the basis of all comedy. Too many of us have become excruciatingly hypersensitive. And how could the HRC be negging Netflix in light of the panoply of LGBTQ shows and characters the streamer puts out? Please! You can’t swing a Fendi purse without knocking over an LGBTQ character on Netflix.
Cam
Translation: We should laugh like hyenas at all of the people punching down at us. Because that’s what’s being done.
And the next step is to not complain about people passing laws against us, because that would make us whiners wouldn’t it?
iminheatlikeacat
“ In an interview with NBC, Jay Brown, senior vice president of research and training at HRC, revealed that the LGBTQ-rights group had initially considered deducting 25 points from Netflix’s overall score before deciding on the suspension.”
LOL! Not a suspension? Oh, the utter humanity!
SamB
It doesn’t matter what the company does for trans employees as long as one show is offensive to even just one person.
cliche guevara
If you had followed the news around the special you would have noticed that it was trans employees at Netflix that raised the issues and said that the special was part of a pattern of Netflix not treating trans employees well. So it does matter what these companies do, that was the whole point.
*pats on head* now run along and play with the other children.
UlfRaynor
@cliche guevara- how childishly condescending of you. How about those in the trans community that supported Chappelle, because there was a good many who did. The reality is, that those trans employees who worked for Netflix pulled the most fascist and childish stunt of them all, something that equated to nothing more than collectively threatening to hold their breath until they got their way if Netflix execs didn’t capitulate to their demands.
The reality is, no one fired them and they cut their own noses off to spite their faces instead of working to improve things by keeping an open dialogue with management, a management that hired them in the first place to be such a voice on their team. The end result being that now they have no voice at all there. That’ll teach those trans inclusive bigots at Netflix a lesson they won’t soon forget, huh?
Meanwhile, Chappelle continues to do what comedians do, joke ’em if they can’t take a f*ck.
Cam
Ahhhhh, the screename that regularly defends bigoted Republicans attacking LGBTQ people is invested in defending Chappelle. Very telling.
Fahd
Netflix isn’t what it once was; as an example, I think greenlighting Chapelle’s special without regard to the negative feedback has diminished the Netflix brand and no doubt hurt shareholder value, in addition to setting back progress in civil rights. Bad executive decision.
HRC, of which I am not a big fan, has every right to issue their ratings as they see fit, and Netflix has every right to defend themselves. And in my opinion, the executive(s) who greenlighted Chappelle’s special, as it is, should be terminated.
Creamsicle
I think shareholders are more concerned with Netflix losing the streaming right to Friends after having paid $100 million for it a few years ago.
Also, because Netflix was in a huge financial hole for a very long time, and the insane valuation their stock has gotten in the past year is largely fueled by speculation. Now people are realizing that the market is saturated, and the revenue stream from new memberships doesn’t justify the valuation.
People who cut the cord are also willing to unsubscribe from streaming platforms depending on what they’re actively using. I only use it as often as I do because my siblings and I split an account. If I were paying for it myself, I’d strategically sub and unsub when shows I’m following are released and do a binge watch.
inbama
You don’t fire executives who greenlight programs that debut in the top ten Nielsen ratings.
christopher lord
Sorry, Dave: Hannah Gadsby is hilarious. And smart.
scotty
a comedians job is to make one think.
are you thinking more?
the artist deserves as much room as those he observes.