The Bloomberg report says Netflix spent $ 24.1 million on “The Closer,†while the company’s biggest hit, “Squid Game,†cost the streaming giant $ 21.4 million.
Netflix said a review of its internal access logs showed that only one person viewed sensitive title data and that person uploaded and shared it externally.
“We understand that this employee may have been motivated by disappointment and hurt by Netflix, but maintaining a culture of trust and transparency is at the heart of our business,†said a spokesperson for Netflix.
Chappelle faced backlash for his special, released in October, in which he commented on transgender people and called itself “TERF teamâ€, which means “trans-exclusionist radical feministâ€.
“Gender is a fact. Every human in this room, every human being on earth, had to go through a woman’s legs to be on earth. It’s a fact,†Chappelle said in the special.
“With The Closer, we understand that the concern is not about content that is offensive to some, but titles that could increase real-world damage (such as the further marginalization of already marginalized groups, hatred, violence, etc.) “Sarandos wrote. “While some employees disagree, we strongly believe that on-screen content does not translate directly into real-world harm.”
Last week, the company suspended Terra Field, a senior software engineer who identifies as queer and trans, who had publicly criticized “The Closer” on Twitter.
Field and two other employees were suspended for attending a virtual directors and vice-presidents meeting last week without notifying the meeting organizer in advance, according to a source familiar with the matter. Field said on Twitter on Tuesday that she had since been reinstated.
Contacted by CNN earlier this week, a Netflix spokesperson said, “Our employees are encouraged to openly disagree and we support their right to do so.”
Chappelle also faced controversy in 2019 over a joke he made about Caitlyn Jenner, and again in 2020 for his remarks on trans people in another Netflix special, “Sticks and Stones “.