Netflix’s co-CEO Ted Sarandos addresses the ongoing criticism of the Dave Chappelle comedy special “The Closer.”
The Situation with Ted Sarandos
Last week, Netflix received an overwhelming amount of backlash as Sarandos defended Chappelle’s show. According to critics, the special contained transphobic and homophobic content. While the situation escalated, Sarandos shared a memo to staff where he stated: “While some employees disagree, we have a strong belief that content on screen doesn’t directly translate to real-world harm.” Read the full memo here.
Netflix’s co-CEO Ted Sarandos responded to backlash about defending Dave Chappelle’s’ comedy special “The Closer.”
Sarandos admitted that he “screwed up” while handling employee concerns. In a Q&A with Variety, he discussed what the company considered as hate speech and what they do not. Below are questions Sarandos answered for Variety.
Do you have any regrets about how this process was handled, especially in your internal communication with employees?
Ted Sarandos: Obviously, I screwed up that internal communication. I did that, and I screwed up in two ways. First and foremost, I should have led with a lot more humanity. Meaning, I had a group of employees who were definitely feeling pain and hurt from a decision we made. And I think that needs to be acknowledged up front before you get into the nuts and bolts of anything. I didn’t do that. That was uncharacteristic for me, and it was moving fast, and we were trying to answer some really specific questions that were floating. We landed with some things that were much more blanket and matter of fact that are not at all accurate.
Of course storytelling has real impact in the real world. I reiterate that because it’s why I work here. It’s why we do what we do. That impact can be hugely positive, and it can be quite negative. So, I would have been better in that communication. They were joining a conversation already in progress, but out of context. But that happens, internal emails go out. In all my communications I should lean into the humanity up front and not make a blanket statement that could land very differently than it was intended.
What is the protocol for defining hate speech at Netflix? What crosses the line and what doesn’t?
We are trying to support creative freedom and artistic expression among the artists that work at Netflix. Sometimes, and we do make sure our employees understand this, because of that- because we’re trying to entertain the world, and the world is made up of folks with a lot of different sensibilities and beliefs and senses of humor and all those things- sometimes, there will be things on Netflix that you dislike. That you even find to be harmful. Where we’ll definitely draw the line is on something that would intentionally call for physically harming other people or even remove protections. For me, intent to cause physical harm crosses the line, for sure.
Read Sarandos’ full Q&A with Variety here.
