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Netflix Writer-Producer Exits in Protest Over Chappelle’s Trans Jokes

Netflix Writer-Producer Exits in Protest Over Chappelle’s Trans Jokes

Writer-producer Jaclyn Moore says she’ll no longer work with Netflix Inc. following jokes about gay and transgender people that Dave Chappelle made on his new comedy special “The Closer,” which debuted Oct. 5 on the streaming service. 

“After the Chappelle special, I can’t do this anymore,” Moore wrote on Instagram Oct. 6. “I won’t work for @netflix again as long as they keep promoting and profiting from dangerous transphobic content.”

Moore was a writer and producer for the Netflix series “Dear White People,” which debuted in 2017 and recently concluded. She transitioned during the pandemic, documenting it on social media.

“I love so many of the people I’ve worked with at Netflix,” Moore wrote on Twitter. “But I’ve been thrown against walls because, I’m not a ‘real’ woman. I’ve had beer bottles thrown at me. So, @netflix, I’m done.”

In an Oct. 7 interview with Variety, Moore said Chappelle’s language is “the same language used by people who seek to hurt us.” 

The comedian’s special includes jokes about trans people and the LGBTQ community. He said he was “team TERF,” the term for “trans-exclusionary radical feminist” and joked about trans women’s genitals. Netflix declined to comment. 

This isn’t the first time Chappelle has come under fire for material about gay and transgender people. In 2017, he made jokes about Caitlyn Jenner in his “Equanimity” special. He also joked about the trans community in his “Sticks and Stones” special in 2019. 

“The Closer” is Chappelle’s sixth special with the streaming network. In 2016, Business Insider reported he was receiving $20 million each for three specials. 

Moore wasn’t alone in calling out Netflix for the special this week. 

GLAAD, formerly the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, said on Twitter, “Dave Chappelle’s brand has become synonymous with ridiculing trans people and other marginalized communities.” 

The National Black Justice Coalition, a civil rights group dedicated to the empowerment of the Black LGBTQ community, urged Netflix to remove Chappelle’s special from the platform. The organization also wrote on Twitter, “It is deeply disappointing that Netflix allowed Dave Chappelle’s lazy and hostile transphobia and homophobia to air on its platform.”

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.