Netflix has reinstated a trans engineer and two other employees who had been suspended after attending a meeting that was meant only for senior executives at the company.
Terra Field, who is trans, joined the meeting after speaking out on Twitter about Dave Chappelle’s latest Netflix special, The Closer. Field and the others joined the meeting and were suspended afterward.
Field wrote on Twitter Tuesday night that “Netflix has reinstated me after finding that there was no ill-intent in my attending the QBR meeting… At the very least, I feel vindicated.”
Field also shared a portion of an email statement that appeared to be from a Netflix official saying, “Our investigation did not find that you joined the QBR meeting with any ill intent and that you genuinely didn’t think there was anything wrong with seeking access to this meeting. Additionally when a director shared the link it further supported that this was a meeting that you could attend.”
A Netflix spokesperson confirmed the veracity of Field’s tweet and added that the other employees were also reinstated. “We will be distributing broader guidance about meetings and clarifying which are for which people,” they added. The spokesperson also reiterated that the suspension was not due to Field’s critical tweets.
In the controversial stand-up special, The Closer, Chappelle mocked the concept of gender identity and identified himself as “team TERF,” a reference to trans-exclusionary radical feminists. After debuting on the streaming platform, the special drew sharp criticism from GLAAD, showrunners like Dear White People‘s Jaclyn Moore, as well as others, including Field.
Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos wrote in a memo to senior staff late last week that they would not remove Chappelle’s special from the service. “Chappelle is one of the most popular stand-up comedians today, and we have a long-standing deal with him,” Sarandos wrote. “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, like Cuties, 365 Days, 13 Reasons Why or My Unorthodox Life.”
Chappelle, meanwhile, held an event at The Hollywood Bowl last week to screen a new documentary. “If this is what being canceled is like, I love it,” he told the crowd in attendance following a standing ovation.
Source: Hollywood
