Hannah Gadsby is slamming Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos over his recent comments defending Dave Chappelle’s controversial stand-up special, “The Closer”.
The Emmy-winning comedian, who Sarandos mentioned in an internal memo about Chappelle’s special, took to Instagram to write: “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 dollars to process his emotionally stunted partial word 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.
“F**k you and your amoral algorithm cult… I do s**ts with more back bone than you. That’s just a joke! I definitely didn’t cross a line because you just told the world there isn’t one,” she added.
Chappelle has been criticized over his comments aimed at the transgender and LGBTQ+ communities in the special.
The comedian discussed his views on gender, stood up for Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling’s controversial transgender tweets and declared himself to be on “Team TERF!” (referencing the term for trans-exclusionary radical feminist).
Gadsby’s post comes after Variety released Sarandos’ note to Netflix staff, which included: “We are working hard to ensure marginalized communities aren’t defined by a single story.
“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.”
He also said, “With ‘The Closer’, we understand that the concern is not about offensive-to-some content but titles which could increase real world harm (such as further marginalizing already marginalized groups, hate, violence etc.) Last year, we heard similar concerns about ‘365 Days’ and violence against women. While some employees disagree, we have a strong belief that content on screen doesn’t directly translate to real-world harm.”
