Netflix is laying down the law.
After Dave Chappelle’s controversial stand-up Netflix special, a number of employees that work for the company expressed their displeasure for the bit.
However, according to the New York Post, Netflix is basically telling its employees to “deal with it,” noting that the company values the “artistic expression” if its content creators, rather than each employee’s personal thoughts, beliefs, and lifestyles.
The company shared the following memo to employees:
“As employees we support the principle that Netflix offers a diversity of stories, even if we find some titles counter to our own personal values.
Depending on your role, you may need to work on titles you perceive to be harmful. If you’d find it hard to support our content breadth, Netflix may not be the best place for you.”
The note comes on the heels of a Netflix employee protest after Chappelle’s comments in the Netflix special “The Closer,” which debuted last October.
Some regarded the comedy special as “transphobic” and after the show’s premiere, some Netflix staff members performed a walkout, expressing their disapproval of Chappelle’s comments.
However, this did not change Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos’ mind, who kept the show on air.
The memo continued:
“Entertaining the world is an amazing opportunity and also a challenge because viewers have very different tastes and points of view. So we offer a wide variety of TV shows and movies, some of which can be provocative.
To help members make informed choices about what to watch, we offer ratings, content warnings and easy to use parental controls.
Not everyone will like — or agree with — everything on our service. While every title is different, we approach them based on the same set of principles: we support the artistic expression of the creators we choose to work with; we program for a diversity of audiences and tastes; and we let viewers decide what’s appropriate for them, versus having Netflix censor specific artists or voices.
The memo also reminded employees that the company does not intend to treat workers like “family,” but rather as lionhearted sportsmen on an award winning athletic “dream team,” one where a player can easily get benched or let go:
“We model ourselves on being a professional sports team, not a family. A family is about unconditional love.
A dream team is about pushing yourself to be the best possible teammate, caring intensely about your team, and knowing that you may not be on the team forever.”
Damn… you hear that Netflix? You ain’t no family.
Of course, all of of this comes after Netflix lost 200,000 viewers in the first quarter of 2022 and expects to lose millions more in the coming months.
Also, here’s a preview of the Chappelle special… well worth the watch:
