Netflix Employees Stage Walkout Supporting Trans Rights

HOLLYWOOD, CA — Netflix employees and their supporters, referring to themselves as “Team Trans,” staged a company-wide walkout Wednesday to protest the streaming service’s distribution of a Dave Chappelle comedy special they feel is transphobic. The group also protested statements by Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos defending the company’s decision to air Chappelle’s special “The Closer,” which debuted Oct. 5.

In the special, Chappelle called himself “team TERF,” referring to “Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists,” a term for people who do not believe that trans women are women, and advocate excluding them from female-only spaces.

Carrying signs that read “Hey Netflix: Do Better” and “Transphobia is Not a Joke” and chanting “Trans lives matter!” about one hundred employees, supporters, and activists gathered outside the company’s headquarters on Sunset and Bronson avenues in Hollywood Wednesday at around 10:30 a.m. Many virtual workers refused to perform any virtual work Wednesday, according to the New York Times.

A small group of counterprotesters carried signs saying “Jokes are funny”, “Dave is funny,” and “Netflix, Don’t Cancel Free Speech.” While there were skirmishes between the two groups, the day remained relatively peaceful, according to The Times.

B. Pagels-Minor, a transgender Netflix employee fired last week for allegedly leaking sensitive information to the media amid the fallout (an allegation that Pagels-Minor has denied), read a list of employee demands, including the creation of a fund to help develop trans and nonbinary talent, recruitment of trans executives, disclaimers about potentially harmful content, and more content by and for the LGBTQ community.

“As most of you know, I’m 33 weeks pregnant,” Pagels-Minor said to a cheering crowd. “And when I thought about why I’m participating in this, it’s [so] that my son does not grow up with content that says that it hates me. I want my child to grow up in a world where they see that their parent, a Black, trans person — because I exist, contrary to what the special says, contrary to what many people say — that I’m valued, and I’m an important person.”

“We will be addressing the list of firm asks ... then we’ll talk about how we plan to execute that,” said rally organizer Ashlee Marie Preston. “The conversation that we’re having today, more than anything, is about the emergence of what I’m calling a ‘hate economy,’ and it is the capitalization of harm and violence that exists online and onscreen ... and the ways in which algorithmic science is being manipulated to take advantage of those moments and to profit from it.”

Co-CEO Ted Sarandos reportedly defended the decision in a series of internal memos for which he has since apologized. In the memo, Sarandos reportedly said that while Chappelle’s content might offend some, “we have a strong belief that content on screen doesn’t translate into real-world harm.”

On Tuesday, Sarandos gave several interviews apologizing for the memo, but still defended the special’s right to air. "I screwed up the internal communication, and I don't mean just mechanically," he told Deadline. "I feel I should've made sure to recognize that a group of our employees was hurting very badly from the decision made, and I should've recognized up front before going into a rationalization of anything the pain they were going through. I say that because I respect them deeply, and I love the contribution they have at Netflix. They were hurting, and I should've recognized that first."

Netflix released a statement expressing support for the protest Wednesday morning before the walkout. ““We value our trans colleagues and allies and understand the deep hurt that’s been caused,” Netflix said in a statement. “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.”

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Netflix Trans Employees Reveal Demands Ahead Of Wednesday Walkout