The fallout from Dave Chappelle's jokes regarding the transgender community continues as trans employees and allies at Netflix prepare to stage a walkout next week, the LA Times has reported.
Last week, Chappelle sparked controversy when he spoke about J.K. Rowling and her comments about the trans community during a Netflix standup special called The Closer.
Since then, the 48-year-old comic has stood by his remarks despite the growing anger at the situation.
Throughout the uproar, Netflix has supported Chappelle, with the streaming platform's co-CEO Ted Sarandos personally defending him.
Dismayed by Netflix's refusal to remove Chappelle's new special, a number of the entertainment giant's employees will be staging a walkout, per Variety.
The LA Times states that the planned walkout is "open to all staffers [to] discuss the Chappelle special’s impact on the trans community".
According to The Verge, a spokesperson from Netflix's trans employee resource group penned the message below in response to the backlash:
"Trans Lives Matter. Trans Rights Matter. And as an organization, Netflix has continually failed to show deep care in our mission to Entertain the World by repeatedly releasing content that harms the Trans community and continually failing to create content that represents and uplifts Trans content. We can and must do better!”
'Most' - an official Netflix Twitter account that promotes the streaming giant's LGBTQ+ content - has now addressed the outrage caused by the special.
It tweeted: "To be clear: As the queer and trans people who run this account, you can imagine that the last couple of weeks have been hard.
"We can’t always control what goes on screen. What we can control is what we create here, and the POV we bring to internal conversations."
During the widely-debated Netflix special, Chappelle said, per NBC News: "Any of you who have ever watched me know that I have never had a problem with transgender people. If you listen to what I'm saying, clearly, my problem has always been with white people. They canceled JK Rowling. My god."
Chappelle continued: "Effectually she said gender was a fact, the trans community got mad as s**t, they started calling her a TERF. I'm Team TERF. I agree. I agree, man. Gender is a fact."
He went on: "Every human being in this room, every human being on earth, had to pass through the legs of a woman to be on earth. That is a fact."
Defending Chappelle's material, Sarandos wrote per Variety: "Chappelle is one of the most popular stand-up comedians today, and we have a long-standing deal with him.
"His last special Sticks & Stones, also controversial, is our most-watched, stickiest, and most award-winning stand-up special to date.
"As with our other talent, we work hard to support their creative freedom — even though this means there will always be content on Netflix some people believe is harmful."
In a statement to the outlet, Netflix said it fully allows staff to "disagree openly" with the CEO's stance.
"Dave Chappelle’s specials are consistently the most-watched comedy specials on Netflix, and have earned many awards, including both an Emmy and a Grammy for ‘Sticks & Stones,'" a Netflix spokesperson said. "We support artistic expression for our creators. We also encourage our employees to disagree openly."
