Hannah Gadsby has attacked Netflix boss Ted Sarandos for defending Dave Chappelle amid the backlash against the comedian’s “transphobic” comments in his latest special, The Closer.
Sarandos had sent a memo to Netflix staff after the initial outcry which mentioned Gadsby, whose comic specials have appeared on the streamer.
“We are working hard to ensure marginalized communities aren’t defined by a single story,” it read. “So we have Sex Education, Orange is the New Black, Control Z, Hannah Gadsby and Dave Chappelle all on Netflix. Key to this is increasing diversity on the content team itself.”
Gadsby subsequently hit back on Instagram: “Hey Ted Sarandos! Just a quick note to let you know that I would prefer if you didn’t drag my name into your mess.”
She then went on to mention the abuse she has received from fans of Chappelle: “Now I have to deal with even more of the hate and anger that Dave Chappelle’s fans like to unleash on me every time Dave gets $20m to process his emotionally stunted partial world view.”
Gadsby concluded by addressing Sarandos’ claims that there is no correlation between entertainment content and real world hate.
“You didn’t pay me nearly enough to deal with the real world consequences of the hate speech dog whistling you refuse to acknowledge, Ted,” she said.
“F*** you and your amoral algorithm cult. I do s***s with more backbone than you. That’s just a joke! I definitely didn’t cross a line because you just told the world there isn’t one.”
Gadsby herself has created two comedy specials for Netflix which have received a total of five Emmy nominations.
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Netflix also recently suspended a transgender employee before reinstating them following an online backlash.
Dave Chappelle and Netflix have been approached for comment.
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