We are back with the cancel culture. The target this time is Dave Chappelle, comedian and host of the Netflix special. The headline of NBC News is “Netflix Trans Employees plan Walkout in Protest to Dave Chappelle Special.”
As described in, the essence is VarietyYou can find this link:
LOS ANGELES – Trans workers and their allies at Netflix plan a walkout Wednesday, October 20, to protest Ted Sarandos’ comments about Dave Chappelle’s new special “The Closer” VarietyThis has been confirmed.
As reported by The Verge, a leader of the streamer’s trans employee resource group wrote the following in a message to members: ‘Trans Lives Matter. Trans Rights Matter. Netflix, as an organisation has failed to care deeply about its mission to Entertain the World. They have repeatedly released content that is harmful to the Trans community and continue to fail to make content that supports and encourages Trans content. We can and must do better!’
Netflix’s Most Twitter account dedicated to LGBTQ content posted Wednesday, ‘We can’t always control what goes on screen. What we can control is what we create here, and the POV we bring to internal conversations.’
What is the key word of that Twitter post? This would be control. That is, after all, what cancel culture is all about: control.
Netflix’s co-CEO Ted Sarandos did not give up, which is a credit to him. Here is his statement
Chappelle is a stand-up comedian who has been around for a while. We have an ongoing deal with him. His last special ‘Sticks & Stones,’ also controversial, is our most watched, stickiest and most award winning stand-up special to date. As with our other talent, we work hard to support their creative freedom — even though this means there will always be content on Netflix some people believe is harmful.
Then there was this news about the “controversy” as headlined at Breitbart:
Black Transgender Defends Dave Chappelle: ‘No Topic Should Be Off-Limits, the World Has Become Too Censored’
The story reported this: “Black transgender comedian Flame Monroe has stepped out in support of comedian Dave Chappelle amid the leftist outrage over his Netflix special The Closer.”
Speaking with TMZ, Monroe, a biological male who identifies as a woman, said no topic “should be off-limits” and decried the politically correct notion of censoring comedians:
As a comedian, I believe that I don’t want to be censored. There is no such thing as off-limits. I believe that Norman Lear had a keen sense of the times many years before I was born.
The internet has made the world too closed-off. This fight involves three dogs. As a comedian, I don’t want to be censored. Being transgender, I believe in equality. As a person of color, I also want equality in the country we’ve been fighting for since 400 years. Everything is important to my heart.
It is all absurd to say that you cannot or can’t tell this. Comedians are put on earth and our safest place on the planet is also on a stage with an audience that’s willing to listen. People are often afraid of what we have to say. We try to make it funny so you can use your imagination to think critically and create your own opinions.
Netflix should not remove the special.
Well three cheers for Monroe and Netflix’s Ted Sarandos.
There is much more to this than just trying to shut down Chappelle or bully Netflix. Another example of employees from companies using communication channels to try and intimidate their bosses.
Remember the resignation New York TimesBari Weiss was the writer. She wrote a quite public letter de resignation. TimesPublisher A.G. Sulzberger said the following:
Friends who don’t agree with me have bullied me for my efforts into Wrongthink. They have called me a Nazi and a racist; I have learned to brush off comments about how I’m “writing about the Jews again.” Several colleagues perceived to be friendly with me were badgered by coworkers. Coworkers openly disparage my work and character on company-wide Slack channels, where masthead editors frequently weigh in. There, some coworkers insist I need to be rooted out if this company is to be a truly “inclusive” one, while others post ax emojis next to my name. Other New York TimesEmployees make public slams about me on Twitter as a liar, a bigot and without fear of me being harassed. They are never.
….What rules that remain at The TimesExtreme selectivity is used to apply them. If a person’s ideology is in keeping with the new orthodoxy, they and their work remain unscrutinized. Everybody else is afraid of the digital thunderdome. As long as the vengeance is directed at the right targets, online venom can be excused.
An editor or writer could be fired for publishing op-eds two years ago that were easily published. Editors and writers should avoid pitching pieces that are perceived to be likely to cause backlash, either on social media or internally.
The Weiss resignation came on the heels of the brouhaha over the paper’s publication of an Op-Ed by Arkansas Republican Senator Tom Cotton titled “Send in the Troops” – in which the Senator (say again that would be a sitting United States Senator) called for using the military to quell the riots that launched in cities across the country after the death of George Floyd.
The Times staff went insane and demanded and received the resignation from James Bennet, Times opinion editor. Bennet was – what a horror! He was then given permission to publish the Cotton piece. That resignation was followed by another, that of the actual editor of Cotton’s article, one Adam Rubenstein.
Meanwhile, around the same time, the left-wing Huff Post was headlining this of the Philadelphia Inquirer’s top editor, Stan Wischnowski:
Philadelphia Inquirer staffers protest after paper’s headline ‘Buildings Matter Too’
Nearly 30 workers of color called sick to convey racism to their managers.
The inevitable was soon followed by this headline at Fox Business.
Top Philadelphia Inquirer editor resigns after ‘Buildings Matter, Too’ headline
Last week, newspaper stated that they shouldn’t print it.
Bottom line, this thread connects Netflix’s latest row over Dave Chappelle and the furies silenced Times writer Bari Weis, TimesEditors Rubinstein, Bennet Get in touchStan Wischnowski (editor) is the infected of these organizations by staffers who, in fact are leftist totalitarians. Totalitarian totalitarians who have no regard for free speech, which in reality is what allows their institutions to do the job they were designed to do.
Again. We are standing behind Dave Chappelle with three cheers. Sarandos, the co-CEO of Netflix refuses to allow himself to be intimidated into silenceing the comedian.
Problem is, America is fighting for freedom of speech. It is impossible to give in or appease bullies no matter how they appear.
There are three more reasons to love Netflix.
