Netflix CEO Says He ‘Screwed Up’ in Chappelle Defense on Eve of Planned Employee Walkout

Rich Polk/Getty Images for Netflix

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos admits he “screwed up” in his multiple defenses of Dave Chappelle’s special.

Chappelle came under criticism for transphobic jokes in The Closer, and there has been a whirlwind of controversy behind the scenes at Netflix.

Sarandos defended Chappelle in multiple internal memos. He argued that “externally, particularly in stand-up comedy, artistic freedom is obviously a very different standard of speech than we allow internally as the goals are different: entertaining people versus maintaining a respectful, productive workplace.”

In an interview Tuesday night, Sarandos told The Wall Street Journal he erred in how he responded:

“What I should have led with in those emails was humanity,” Mr. Sarandos said in an interview Tuesday evening. “I should have recognized the fact that a group of our employees was really hurting.”

Mr. Sarandos said his remarks on content not causing real-world harm was also an oversimplification and lacking in humanity.

“To be clear, storytelling has an impact in the real world… sometimes quite negative,” he said.

He did go on to defend carrying Chappelle’s special and say, “We have articulated to our employees that there are going to be things you don’t like… But we are trying to entertain a world with varying tastes and varying sensibilities and various beliefs, and I think this special was consistent with that.”

An employee walkout is still being planned for Wednesday, the New York Times reported earlier today.