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Netflix gives 'woke' staff wake-up call: Asks 'offended' employees to QUIT, backs Dave Chappelle

Chappelle is one of the performers who has faced backlash for his performance in 'The Closer'

Netflix has called out on woke employees attempting to suppress artists like Dave Chappelle. The streaming giant has issued a new 'cultural memo,' which states that employees upset by the streaming content can quit the company.

Chappelle is one of the performers who has faced backlash for his performance in 'The Closer', which erupted into a ruckus at the company last October. It was pulled when some awakened activists said it featured transphobic and homophobic themes. In his stand-up special, he stated that "gender is a fact" and blasted the trans community's "thin skin." The jokes were inspired by remarks made by JK Rowling, the author of Harry Potter, who said in 2019 that trans people were not truly women and posed a danger to her identity. However, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos backed up Chappelle and continued to air the show, causing a mass exodus of awakened employees. Young activists have targeted comic Dave Chappelle for making jokes about transgender people, with the goal of having him fired. With their latest statement, 'Netflix Culture — Seeking Excellence,' Netflix looked to be finally putting a stop to this outcry. The memo, which was emailed to employees on Thursday,12 May.

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This is the first time the cultural guide has been updated in five years, earlier it was simply known as 'Netflix Culture.' However, it retains the original statement's basic concepts, including an emphasis on empowering staff decision-making and encouraging open criticism. Netflix seems to be adopting a tough stance against anyone attempting to stifle artistic works.

Netflix claims that a shared document allowed all of its employees to read and submit suggestions for the new culture memo. It comes as the company is put through its paces, with significant cash losses and a big flight of viewers to competitors. Even if staff believe the information is 'harmful,' bosses have stressed that they would not suppress individual artists or perspectives. As the corporation's economy deteriorated, the paper also urged employees to tighten their belts and rein down corporate expenditures. Over the previous year, the struggling service has lost millions of viewers as rivals Amazon, Disney, and Apple gain traction. Although a minor recovery to $174 in pre-market trade, stocks have plummeted in the previous six months, falling from over $700 to as low as $166 yesterday. Meanwhile, the firm has been at odds with itself for the airing of information that some awakened employees believe is hazardous.

New guidelines

A new section was added to Artistic Expression, which reads: "Entertaining the world is an amazing opportunity and also a challenge because viewers have very different tastes and points of view."
"So we offer a wide variety of TV shows and movies, some of which can be provocative."
"To help members make informed choices about what to watch, we offer ratings, content warnings and easy to use parental controls."
"Not everyone will like — or agree with — everything on our service."
"While every title is different, we approach them based on the same set of principles: we support the artistic expression of the creators we choose to work with; we program for a diversity of audiences and tastes; and we let viewers decide what's appropriate for them, versus having Netflix censor specific artists or voices."

It further adds: "As employees, we support the principle that Netflix offers a diversity of stories, even if we find some titles counter to our own personal values. Depending on your role, you may need to work on titles you perceive to be harmful. If you'd find it hard to support our content breadth, Netflix may not be the best place for you." Ethical Expectations, Representation Matters, and 'Employees Direct Our Philanthropy' are some of the other areas that have been introduced.

As it struggles to shrug off an unexpectedly dismal first quarter, Netflix has accelerated plans to launch a cheaper, ad-subsidized option for subscribers who are considering quitting the streaming service. Netflix revealed in April that it had lost 200,000 customers in the first three months of the year, the first drop in a decade and a drastic reversal of its goal of acquiring 2.5 million users. They predicted that they would lose two million more in the second quarter, and the stock price plummeted, wiping off about $70 billion from the company's market valuation.