Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos Says Streamer is Standing by Dave Chappelle and ‘The Closer’

Amid the backlash from Dave Chappelle’s new comedy special, The Closer, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos wants the streaming giants employees to know they are standing with the comedian. 

Variety obtained a staff memo sent by Sarandos after Netflix’s quarterly business review, attended by the top 500 employees at the company. 

The meeting was attended by three Netflix employees who were not invited and spoke out about Chappelle’s special. The employees have been suspended, and the incident is under investigation. 

In the memo, Sarandos cited other Netflix content considered controversial, including 13 Reasons Why, Cuties, and My Unorthodox Life.

Read Sarandos’ entire memo below.

I wanted to follow-up on The Closer — Dave Chappelle’s latest special — as several of you have reached out following QBR asking what to say to your teams. It never feels good when people are hurting, especially our colleagues, so I wanted to give you some additional context. You should also be aware that some talent may join third parties in asking us to remove the show in the coming days, which we are not going to do.

Chappelle is one of the most popular stand-up comedians today, and we have a long-standing deal with him. His last special “Sticks & Stones,” also controversial, is our most-watched, stickiest and most award-winning stand-up special to date. As with our other talent, we work hard to support their creative freedom – even though this means there will always be content on Netflix some people believe is harmful, like Cuties, 365 Days, 13 Reasons Why, or My Unorthodox Life.

Several of you have also asked where we draw the line on hate. We don’t allow titles on Netflix that are designed to incite hate or violence, and we don’t believe The Closer crosses that line. I recognize, however, that distinguishing between commentary and harm is hard, especially with stand-up comedy which exists to push boundaries. Some people find the art of stand-up to be mean-spirited but our members enjoy it, and it’s an important part of our content offering.

In terms of our commitment to inclusion, we’re working hard to ensure more people see their lives reflected on screen and that under-represented communities are not defined by the single story. So we’re proud of titles like “Sex Education,” “Young Royals,” “Control Z” and “Disclosure.” 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.

Today’s conversation on Entertain the World was timely. These are hard and uncomfortable issues. We all bring different values and perspectives so thank you for being part of the conversation as it’s important we’re clear about our operating principals.

-Ted