Netflix exposed by Dave Chappelle controversy

For almost a decade, Netflix has been selling itself as a bastion of representation but its latest controversity has left it exposed.

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When Netflix started making its own TV shows almost nine years ago, one of its first commissions was Orange is the New Black.

With a diverse ensemble cast, the dramedy set inside a women’s prison in upstate New York was lauded for telling the stories of people who rarely headline a high-profile series.

The way in was through Piper, a white, middle-class and educated character, but once it seduced you, Orange is the New Black became a platform for the experiences of Black, Latinx, economically marginalised and LGBTQI women.

Then there was Laverne Cox’s character, Sophia, a transgender woman.

Orange is the New Black wasn’t an obscure series that the discerning set would smugly congratulate themselves on being cultured enough to discover and love. This was a mainstream show which captured audiences, the zeitgeist and awards.

And Netflix bathed itself in the glow of all that adulation. It was praised for giving voice to those who were silent and celebrated for being “brave” enough to take a chance on something that TV networks wouldn’t dare to broadcast.

Netflix was lauded for the diversity in Orange is the New Black. Picture: Netflix

In the years since, the multinational streaming company has time and again enjoyed and exploited its reputation for championing diverse stories, whether that was Ava DuVernay’s Central Park Five series When They See Us or Ryan O’Connell’s Special, a semi-autobiographical comedy about a young gay man with cerebral palsy.

With its global ambitions to be in the homes of every internet-connected household around the world, Netflix understood that the old Hollywood assumptions around what people were willing to watch weren’t going to cut it.

And it’s had wild successes based on exactly this approach, including most recently the 142 million households that watched South Korean series Squid Game in the first four weeks of its release.

That’s a show that came out of Netflix’s heavy investment in South Korea and its global reach means that this non-English language title could be showcased at opposite ends of the world and find passionate fans.

Squid Game is Netflix’s most successful original TV series. Picture: Youngkyu Park/Netflix

Perhaps it’s because Netflix has set itself up as a paragon of creativity and diversity, that the Dave Chappelle controversy smacks of hypocrisy.

And that’s especially the case among its own employees who have openly criticised the business for supporting the comedian whose divisive comments have been labelled as “transphobic”.

Netflix employees staged a walkout, protesting against the company’s platforming and then defence of Chappelle.

Others including Billy Eichner, Elliot Page, Wanda Sykes, Dan Levy and Netflix creative partners DuVernay, Jonathan Van Ness and Jaclyn Moore voiced their support of the protesting employees.

Co-chief executive Ted Sarandos has been in the centre of the storm with his full-throated defence of Chappelle, which The Hollywood Reporter said is thought to be Sarandos’ favourite working comic.

Chappelle has denied being transphobic and claimed in a video posted this week that LGBTQI people “he knows” supports him.

Sarandos admitted to Variety in an interview last week that his internal memos to employees were handled badly, but he doubled down on his defence of Chappelle, citing artistic and creative freedom.

Comments made by Dave Chappelle has embroiled Netflix in scandal. Picture: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Sarandos himself even said that Chappelle’s special, The Closer, “is consistent with our comedy offering, consistent with Dave Chappelle’s comedy brand and this is one of those times when there’s something on Netflix that you’re not going to like”.

Sarandos isn’t wrong. The Closer is on brand for Chappelle recently. It’s not the first time he’s made remarks that have offended the trans community and it probably won’t even be the last.

He may even do it again on Netflix – a spokesperson told THR that the streamer plans to keep commissioning Chappelle’s specials.

That decision shouldn’t surprise anyone at this point.

THR reporting claimed that former Netflix vice-president of original content Cindy Holland, who left the business in 2020 as part of a Sarandos-driven shake-up, had warned Sarandos multiple times that Chappelle’s repeated swipes at the trans community had “upset” the company’s LGBTQI employees.

Holland had apparently been an unofficial liaison between those staff groups and the executive. A former Netflix insider told THR, “She and Ted met with staff employee resource groups after the last go-round. Those groups have distrusted Ted on their issues.”

One of the first, most vocal critiques of The Closer came from within, from trans woman and staffer Terra Field who wrote, “What we object to is the harm that content like this does to the trans community (especially trans people of colour) and very specifically trans Black women.”

Ted Sarandos has been at the centre of the Netflix storm. Picture: Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Sarandos has at least walked back his initial eyebrow-raising claim that onscreen “content” did not directly translate to real-life harm.

Sarandos may be defending his decisions through the prism of artistic freedom now, but he also revealed in one of his memos that there is a business case behind it, specifically that some Netflix subscribers like Chappelle.

And Sarandos said he remains committed to catering to audiences with different tastes and sensibilities, which means not removing something that he doesn’t view as hate speech.

But there are times when Netflix has removed titles from its platform not because of hate speech but because of a business case.

Netflix removed an episode of Hasan Minhaj’s Patriot Act from its service in Saudi Arabia after the kingdom complained it was critical of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s role in the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in a Saudi consulate in Turkey.

The American company agreed to remove the episode on the grounds it “contravened local law”.

Artistic expression and freedom of speech apparently matters less when the business case argued for good relations with an authoritarian theocracy.

An episode of Hasan Minhaj’s series Patriot Act was removed from Netflix in Saudi Arabia after the kingdom complained. Picture: Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images

Those are Netflix’s decisions to make, and the vast majority of its customers are unlikely to cancel their subscriptions in protest or care too deeply about the internal ructions causing its HR department a headache.

But it’s worth remembering this saga the next time Netflix holds itself up as a champion of marginalised communities. Just this week, Netflix released Colin Kaepernick’s miniseries Colin in Black & White, which is rooted in his experiences of prejudice in America.

But multibillion-dollar companies will always prioritise what is right for its balance sheet, everything else, all the good and even the bad, is a by-product of that mission.

Wenlei Ma is news.com.au film and TV critic