Netflix Reinstates Trans Engineer, 2 Other Employees Suspended for Crashing Executive Meeting

Engineer Terra Field publicly criticized Netflix over Dave Chappelle’s new comedy special

dave chappelle the closer netflix special
Netflix

Netflix has reinstated three employees who were suspended earlier this week for crashing an executive meeting, including Terra Field, a trans software engineer who publicly criticized the company’s decision to stream Dave Chappelle’s latest comedy special.

“Netflix has reinstated me after finding that there was no ill-intent in my attending the QBR meeting,” Field said Tuesday night on Twitter. “I’ve included the statement I requested below. I’m going to take a few days off to decompress and try to figure out where I’m at. At the very least, I feel vindicated.”

Field included a screenshot of a Netflix email confirming that her attendance at the meeting didn’t violate any rules, in part because “when a director shared the link it further supported that this was a meeting that you could attend.”

Field and the other two Netflix employees gained access to a quarterly directors meeting earlier this week, where they spoke out against Chappelle’s special “The Closer,” which has sparked backlash for transphobic material. Field had previously made her objections to the stand-up special public on Twitter.

They were suspended soon after, but a Netflix representative told TheWrap at the time that Field in particular was not suspended for tweeting about the Chappelle special and that the company encourages its employees to speak openly; the suspensions, Netflix said, occurred because the employees were not authorized to attend the meeting.

Other trans individuals who have worked with Netflix, including “Dear White People” executive producer Jaclyn Moore, had also criticized Chappelle and said that she was “done” with the streamer after the special was allowed to air.

Netflix representatives confirmed that the three employees have been reinstated, and reiterated the company’s commitment to allowing employees to speak freely.

The Hollywood Reporter first reported the news.

Comments