Netflix fired the leader of the trans employee resource organization that was organizing the October 20th walkout. For fear of harassment online, the employee was Black and pregnant. They encourage trans employees and their allies to leave work in protest at Netflix's handling of The Closer, a Dave Chappelle special. The employee refused to talk to The Verge about this story.
In an interview with The Verge, a former employee said that all these white people go around talking to the media and tweeting publicly about Twitter. The only person who is fired is the Black person who was silent the whole time. This is absurd and further demonstrates that Black transgender people are being targeted in this conversation.
An employee was fired for leaking metrics related to the Dave Chappelle special to the media. The metrics, which included the amount Netflix paid for The Closer as well as how many people it reached, were later published in a Bloomberg report. The employee had already shared the metrics internally but they protested the leaks to their colleagues because they were concerned they would harm the walkout movement.
Netflix is not known for leaking internal data. Netflix prides itself in transparency. However, employees are informed that culture thrives when Netflix data is kept internal.
A spokesperson for Netflix confirmed that the employees were fired. They said that we had fired an employee due to sharing commercially sensitive, confidential information with the outside world. While we understand that the employee might have been hurt by Netflix, maintaining trust and transparency are core values of our company.
Netflix has been roiled by controversy surrounding The Closer. The movie was widely criticised by trans activists as being transphobic. Terra Field, a trans-software engineer, was suspended by Netflix for posting a viral tweet about the controversy. She had attended a meeting at director level to which she wasn't invited. Field was reinstated. Field has been reinstated by the company. The company now sends employees information about which meetings they are allowed to attend.
