Netflix employees followed through with their plan to stage a virtual walkout in protest of Chappelle's controversial special and Netflix's support of it. Hundreds of protestors gathered outside of Netflix's Los Angeles office on Wednesday morning, supporting transgender Netflix employees and demanding the company show more tangible support for the transgender community. During the public rally, B. Pagels-Minor — the former Netflix employee who was fired for allegedly leaking confidential data from the company — read a list of several asks from Netflix's employee group to co-CEO Sarandos that included creating "a fund for nonbinary and trans talent," revising "internal processes for reviewing potentially harmful content," adding "disclaimers on shows with transphobic content," and acknowledging the "harm Netflix has caused to the trans community."
"We are employees, but we are members, too," Pagels-Minor said, reading the letter out loud. "We believe that this Company can and must do better in our quest to entertain the world, and that the way forward must include more diverse voices in order to avoid causing more harm." Rally organizer Ashlee Marie Preston also explained that the purpose of the protest was to stand in solidarity with Netflix employees. "It's violent to make members of the transgender community who work for your company participate in the oppression of their own community, and we're here to disrupt that and stand in solidarity with the employees," she told The Hollywood Reporter.
Several celebrities have also voiced their public support for the #NetflixWalkout, including Elliot Page, Jonathan Van Ness, Wanda Sykes, Angelica Ross, Jameela Jamil, Kate Bornstein, Colton Haynes, and many more.
