Just days after suspending them, Netflix has reinstated three employees, including a trans software engineer, who all criticised the controversial Dave Chappelle comedy special.
The trio were suspended by the streaming platform for crashing a meeting of its top executives. An investigation into the incident then took place.
As per Variety, Terra Field, one of the three suspended employees, shared the news of her reinstatement on her Twitter. She included a screenshot of her official correspondence with Netflix officials, which showed Fields being notified that an investigation had discovered no ill-intent.
“Netflix has reinstated me after finding that there was no ill-intent in my attending the QBR meeting,” Field wrote on Twitter.
A Netflix spokesperson confirmed to Variety that Field’s statement was correct, also confirming that the other two suspended employees had also been reinstated by the company.
Field identifies as queer and trans, and wrote a Twitter thread last week criticising Chappelle for his “attacks (on) the trans community” in his new Netflix special: “Yesterday we launched another Chappelle special where he attacks the trans community, and the very validity of transness – all while trying to pit us against other marginalized groups. You’re going to hear a lot of talk about ‘offense.’ We are not offended.”
She continued to say of Chappelle, “our existence is ‘funny’ to him – and when we object to his harm, we’re ‘offended.’”
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She wasn’t the only person to come out against the comedian. Jaclyn Moore, the showrunner on another Netflix production, Dear White People, told Variety that she “never loved Dave’s trans material before but this time it felt different.”
Moore continued by saying, “This is the first time I felt like, ‘Oh, people are laughing at this joke and they’re agreeing that it’s absurd to call me a woman.’”
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Netflix has reinstated me after finding that there was no ill-intent in my attending the QBR meeting. I've included the statement I requested below.
I'm going to take a few days off to decompress and try to figure out where I'm at. At the very least, I feel vindicated. pic.twitter.com/lYxemYgRkJ
— Terra Field 🏳️⚧️ (@RainofTerra) October 13, 2021
