In Los Angeles, protesters gathered in front of the Netflix headquarters as a group of employees from the streaming giant staged a walkout Wednesday amid the ongoing controversy over comedian Dave Chappelle’s new special, “The Closer”, which features anti-trans jokes. In the stand-up show, Chapelle likens being trans to blackface and jokes about killing a woman. Trans employees have issued a list of demands to Netflix, including the recruitment of more trans workers into leadership roles, the creation of a fund to develop trans and nonbinary talent, and the addition of disclaimers before transphobic and other hateful content. This is television personality David Huggard, also known as Eureka.
David Huggard: “We as trans people and nonbinary people aren’t getting visibility or respect in the entertainment industry to begin with. And to have something like Dave Chappelle’s special not be noted that it’s promoting discrimination and hate conversation is very hurtful to the activism and the cause that we’re trying to progress ourselves in the industry.”