Net ix’s Moral Dilemma
Dave Chappelle’s new Netflix program is called “The Closer,” but all the standup special has done this week is open wounds and political worm cans for the streaming giant.
After some of Chappelle’s jokes were criticized as damaging to the trans community — and an ill-timed suspension of a trans person who recently happened to blast the special on social media — Netflix finds itself at an interesting crossroads: protecting employees while defending “artistic freedom.”
The saga began in early October when reviews of “The Closer” quoted Chappelle as saying, “gender is a fact,” and that “every human being in this room … had to pass through the legs of a woman.” Opponents say this reinforces damaging narratives around trans people and isolates the LGBTQ community.
Those critics include Terra Field, a senior software engineer at Netflix who openly decried the jokes and Chappelle. She and two other employees were suspended this week for crashing a top-level executive meeting where Chappelle was on the agenda. Convenient or not for its leadership, Netflix has become a microcosm of the country — a streaming service so ambitious that it must serve content to all at the risk of hurting some.
“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,” Netflix CO-CEO Ted Sarandos wrote in a memo to top executives, refusing to remove the content and underscoring the ratings and accolades Chappelle brings.
“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,” Sarandos added.
But there are plenty of examples of Netflix taking moral stances on social issues. Sarandos himself was the first showbiz leader to blink and threaten a Georgia boycott in should the state’s incendiary abortion ban become law. The streamer also donated to and curated a special channel of content around Black Lives Matter in the wake of protests over George Floyd’s murder.
Top dealmakers and industry insiders who spoke with Variety on the condition of anonymity found it fascinating that Netflix would defend Chappelle — and, in essence, standup comedy itself.
“We don’t allow titles at Netflix that are designed to incite hate or violence, and we don’t believe ‘The Closer’ crosses that line,” Sarandos concluded in his memo.