Following the storm of backlash as a result of Chappelle's special, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos defended the show in a staff memo that was sent out to employees after the streamer's quarterly business review. "I wanted to follow-up on the The Closer — Dave Chappelle's latest special — as several of you have reached out following QBR asking what to say to your teams," he wrote. "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," he added, also citing other examples like Sundance film Cuties and teen suicide drama 13 Reasons Why as more controversial Netflix content. Sarandos's statement was also met with backlash and LGBTQ+ organisation GLAAD issued a statement as a response, as reported by Variety, stating, "Netflix has a policy that content 'designed to incite hate or violence' is not allowed on the platform, but we all know that anti-LGBTQ content does exactly that. While Netflix is home to groundbreaking LGBTQ stories, now is the time for Netflix execs to listen to LGBTQ employees, industry leaders, and audiences and commit to living up to their own standards."
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