Hannah Gadsby signs new Netflix deal, slams ‘transphobic industry’

Award-winning Australian comedian Hannah Gadsby has signed a multi-title deal with Netflix, which includes a special featuring international, genderqueer comedians, and a new, hour-long show recorded on the Body of Work tour.

The Tasmanian-born 44-year-old will invite six gender diverse performers to appear in the special to be recorded in a single run in the UK next year.

Australian comedian Hannah Gadsby.Credit: Ben King

Gadsby is vocal about the discrimination faced by queer people and particularly the transphobia they say is rampant in comedy. They see the Netflix deal as an opportunity to amplify other voices and say it’s “an effort to further open a door that I had to fight to get through myself”.

“In a notoriously transphobic industry, I am looking to broaden the scope of opportunities for genderqueer performers from around the globe, as well as expand the diversity of offerings to audiences on one of comedy’s biggest platforms,” they say.

“Coupled with a mentorship initiative for these up-and-coming comics, the program aims to foster the professional development of a demographic that is still struggling to have their voices heard.”

Gadsby spoke to this masthead recently about the complexities of dealing with the streaming giant, describing it as a beast. “As a creator, I’ll make a stand in so many different ways … I’m choosing to do it by doing my job, just working. I don’t feel that being a voice in direct opposition is constructive because that way the toxic voices then get to control the conversation.”

In 2021, Netflix co-CEO and chief content officer Ted Sarandos name-checked Gadsby alongside Dave Chappelle in an effort to showcase Netflix’s diversity.

“We are working hard to ensure marginalised communities aren’t defined by a single story,” Sarandos said. “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.”

The comments were made in response to calls for Netflix to drop Chappelle after he was criticised for his remarks on the trans community. On Instagram, Gadsby replied: “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 to process his emotionally stunted partial world view.

“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,” they wrote, adding that Netflix was an “amoral algorithm cult”.

Now, in addition to their own work, Gadsby is able to provide a forum for others. “This will be a chance for the world to hear these voices for the first, but definitely not the last, time.”

The Body Of Work show is Gadsby’s third Netflix special, following the Emmy and Peabody award-winning Nanette in 2018, which made them a global hit with its raw and confronting stories of life growing up, and Douglas in 2020. The performance will be recorded live at the Sydney Opera House this week – as was Nanette – and is made with the assistance of The Sydney Opera House Trust. It will be released next year.

In Ten Steps to Nanette, released earlier this year, Gadsby traces their life growing up as a queer person in Tasmania, where homosexuality was illegal until 1997, to their relationship with comedy, and their struggle with late in life diagnosis with autism and ADHD. Their determination to callout and address backward and misogynistic behaviour is clear, through the book, shows and now creating a forum for their contemporaries.

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