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Entertainment

12th Oct 2021

Netflix suspends trans employee who criticised Dave Chappelle special

Kieran Galpin

Netflix has not changed their position

Netflix has denied allegations that it suspended trans employee Terra Field for their open criticism of the notorious Dave Chappelle comedy special that made headlines last week.

Instead, the streaming giant claimed that it suspended three employees, including Field, after they crashed a meeting with top executives, reports Variety.

Field is a senior software engineer based in San Francisco. They were suspended along with two others for crashing the quarterly business review that is only attended by the top 500 employees in the company.

Netflix has since denied allegations that Field was suspended for their social media call-out of Chappelle’s new special The Closer in which the comedian takes aim at the trans community. In the days since the show’s debut, both Netflix and comedian Dave Chapelle have found themselves in the firing line.

The Twitter thread in question has since gone viral, garnering thousands of likes, comments and shares.

“I work at @netflix. Yesterday we launched another Chappelle special where he attacks the trans community and the very validity of transness – all while trying to pit us against other marginalized groups. You’re going to hear a lot of talk about “offense”,” Field tweeted.

They continued: “What we object to is the harm that content like this does to the trans community (especially trans people of color) and VERY specifically Black trans women. People who look like me aren’t being killed. I’m a white woman, I get to worry about Starbucks writing “Tara” on my drink.”

The thread continues to talk generally about the hardships trans people face on a daily basis. Field then tweets the names of countless murdered trans women whose names are not spoken of enough in society.

“It is absolutely untrue to say that we have suspended any employees for tweeting about this show. Our employees are encouraged to disagree openly and we support their right to do so,” a Netflix spokesperson told the LA Times.

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