"The narrative has a real impact on the real world": Ted Sarandos admits to "screw it up" with the controversy of the David Chappelle special on Netflix

"The narrative has a real impact on the real world": Ted Sarandos admits to "screw it up" with the controversy of the David Chappelle special on Netflix

In all the hype surrounding Netflix's metrics, including its new methodology, the company has finally had a moment to talk about the great controversy of recent weeks: the negative reaction to the latest Dave Chappelle special and the poor handling of the situation from high places.

It was Ted Sarandos, CCO of the company, who in interviews has admitted failures in internal communication. Specifically, in some leaked internal emails in which the executive took the issue away by stating that "we have a strong conviction that the content on the screen does not directly translate into harm in the real world."

But, let's put ourselves in precedents. On October 5 he landed on the platform 'The Closer', his new monologue in which the comedian played, in his usual way, various current affairs and, at one point, Chappelle joked about discrimination against the LGTBQ collective and about the transgender community. He came to proclaim himself "team TERF".

Filtration and protests

Something that caused a lot of commotion and discomfort among Netflix employees themselves, with acts of protest that included the strike by the company's transgender workers. It reached a point where part of the company staff who had raised their voice on the matter was suspended (and reinstated).

A crisis both internal and external on which rivers of ink have flowed and from which, two weeks after the snowball began to take on enormous proportions, Ted Sarandos has admitted to having mismanaged the situation, at least at the level of communication.