About 100 people have protested outside Netflix’s headquarters over the airing of a comedy special by Dave Chappelle, which they say is transphobic.
Netflix staff and transgender activists staged the walkout outside the streaming giant’s Los Angeles offices, calling on the firm to fund more trans and non-binary talent, as well as other measures to avoid “transphobia and hate speech”.
“We are here today not because we don’t know how to take a joke. We’re here because we’re concerned that the jokes are taking lives,” rally organiser Ashlee Marie Preston said in an interview.
Netflix has been mired in controversy over The Closer, in which stand-up comedy star Chappelle says “gender is a fact” and that LGBT people are “too sensitive”.
Chappelle has laughed off the backlash, recently saying: “If this is what being cancelled is about, I love it.”
