Netflix co-Chief Executive Ted Sarandos is doing some serious backpeddling over comments he made to defend Dave Chappelle’s latest special, The Closer, but admits his “stance hasn’t changed.” 

Ahead of staffers’ planned “Stand Up in Solidarity” walkout and rally today, Sarandos said in a phone interview withThe Hollywood Reporter that he “screwed up” in the way he handled the outrage from trans Netflix employees and allies over Chappelle’s decidedly offensive special, adding that he “lacked humanity.”

And the world agrees. 

Wednesday, Oct 20, 2021 · 7:55:35 PM +00:00 · Rebekah Sager

During today’s Netflix walkout, staff presented its full list of demands. 

The letter, which was not made public, but was supplied to The Verge, reads in part: 

Additionally, Ashlee Marie Preston, who helped organize the Netflix protest Wednesday, says she’s invited Dave to sit down with the LGBTQ+ community and discuss how his special could harm members of the transgender community, but, so far, he has not responded.

In an interview with TMZ, Preston said it’s not a “cancel culture,” it’s “avoidance of accountability.” Adding that once he made the decision not to show up, the issue becomes the responsibility of the “people who sign the paycheck… and that’s Ted [Sarandos].” 

Go to The Verge to read the full letter. 

“I should have first and foremost acknowledged in those emails that a group of our employees were in pain, and they were really feeling hurt from a business decision that we made. And I, instead of acknowledging that first, I went right into some rationales. And so first of all, I’d say those emails lacked humanity, in which I like to and I do generally communicate with our teams,” Sarandos told The Hollywood Reporter.  

Last week, Sarandos had a very different attitude, writing to staffers: “we have a strong belief that content on screen doesn’t directly translate to real-world harm.” Well? Not sure if that’s exactly true.

He’s wrong. Because what we say in the media does, in fact, matter, and it can have an impact on people’s lives. Netflix’s own documentary, Disclosure, is a prime source. 

“Trans people have experienced unprecedented levels of violence, and this legislative assault in state legislatures and on a federal level that is unprecedented,” actress and executive producer Laverne Cox said in Disclosure.  

Sarandos argued that remote working doesn’t allow staffers to feel the true support Netflix has for the LGBTQ+ community, saying, “reinforcement of the allyship that the company has towards the LGBTQ+ community, including massive investment in content and creators and storytellers to represent LGBTQ+ stories.”

“This group of employees felt a little betrayed because we’ve created such a great place to work that they forgot that sometimes these challenges will come up,” he added.

Wednesday morning the company issued a statement about the walkout. 

“We value our trans colleagues and allies, and understand the deep hurt that’s been caused,” a Netflix spokesperson said. “We respect the decision of any employee who chooses to walk out, and recognize we have much more work to do both within Netflix and in our content.”

Too little, too late. 

“We shouldn’t have to show up quarterly/annually to push back against harmful content that negatively impacts vulnerable communities,” organizer Ashlee Marie Preston wrote on Instagram. “Instead, we aim to use this moment to shift the social ecology around what Netflix leadership deems ethical entertainment.”

Deadline reports the staffers will present a list of demands to Sarandos and are working on a public support announcement in conjunction with Queer Eye‘s Jonathan Van Ness, upcoming She-Hulk star Jameela Jamil, Sara Ramirez, Angelica Ross, TS Madison, Eureka O’Hara, and Colton Haynes.

When The Hollywood Reporter asked Sarandos how he would respond to the demands. He responded with: 

Going forward, I want to make sure that everyone understands that we are deeply committed to supporting artistic freedom with the creators who work at Netflix. We’re deeply committed to increase representation on screen and behind the camera, and we’ll always learn and improve on how to address these challenges as they arrive.”

According to reporting by Variety, three Netflix employees (including trans employee Terra Field, who previously spoke out against the special on Twitter) who were suspended for crashing a top executive meeting have since gotten their jobs back. 

Ultimately, I can’t say it anymore spot-on than Vulture writer and music critic Craig Jenkins said about The Closer and Chappelle. 

“It’s hard for people to trust that you respect the queer community when you announce that you’re ‘team TERF,’ make a point to mix up the letters in ‘LGBTQ,’ and pepper your work with the slurs your peers have largely hung up …

“He speaks about Black and queer struggles as if they are strictly in competition, not always entangled. He has the textbook edgelord ally’s arrogance. He swears he knows how to fix things for you, but he’s just asking for you to take up less space, to usher in progress by giving other people time to come around to you.“