Australian comedian Hannah Gadsby has spoken out strongly against Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos after being referenced in his memo defending Dave Chappelle.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Sarandos has been under fire this week after Chappelle's latest stand-up special for the streamer 'The Closer', was criticized as transphobic.
The executive had said in a staff memo that the special, in which Chappelle mocks gender identities and defends past remarks from JK Rowling, "doesn't directly translate to real-world harm" and would not be removed.
He also said that the streamer was "working hard to ensure marginalized communities aren't defined by a single-story," adding, "So we have 'Sex Education', 'Orange Is the New Black', 'Control Z', Hannah Gadsby and Dave Chappelle all on Netflix. Key to this is increasing diversity on the content team itself."
But Gadsby, who shot to fame with her 2018 Netflix special 'Nanette' and also sold her follow-up Douglas to the streamer (saying "it's wonderful that Netflix will bring the show to every corner of the globe"), took to Instagram early on Friday to share her outrage.
She wrote, "Hey Ted Sarandos. Just a quick note to let you know that I would prefer if you didn't drag my name into your mess. Now I have to deal with even more of the hate and anger that Dave Chappelle's fans like to unleash on me every time Dave gets 20 million dollars to process his emotionally stunted partial word view."
Gadsby added, "You didn't pay me nearly enough to deal with the real-world consequences of the hate speech dog-whistling you refuse to acknowledge, Ted. Fuck you and your amoral algorithm cult.... I do shits with more backbone than you. That's just a joke! I definitely didn't cross a line because there isn't one."
As per The Hollywood Reporter, Trans staffers and allies at Netflix are planning to stage a virtual walkout this coming Wednesday after Sarandos sent two memos on the Chappelle controversy.
( With inputs from ANI )
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