Comedian Dave Chappelle says he is willing to sit down with angry Netflix employees and discuss their concerns after they staged a walkout to protest his comedy special in which he makes jokes about the LGBTQ+ community, TMZ reports.
Chappelle's spokesperson told the website that the comic is open to dialogue if Netflix would contact him, but so far, no one has.
That claim is disputed by Ashlee Marie Preston, organizer of the walkout, who said she did invite Chappelle to discuss matters with them, but "Dave chose not to show up."
Chappelle's spokesperson told TMZ that wasn't so, and didn't know why Preston was making the claim.
About 100 people protested near Netflix Inc.'s headquarters on Wednesday against the streaming pioneer's decision to release Chappelle's new special, which they say ridicules transgender people.
Netflix staff members, transgender rights advocates and public officials gathered on a sidewalk outside a Netflix office blocks away from the company's main 13-story Sunset Boulevard building in Los Angeles. Demonstrators held signs proclaiming, ''Trans Lives Matter'' and ''Team Trans'' and chanted slogans including ''What do we want? Accountability.'' ''When do we want it? Now.''
Netflix staff were outnumbered by members of the public, but the precise number was not clear. Netflix employees had called for a walkout.
Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos acknowledged in interviews before the walkout, ''I screwed up'' in how he spoke to Netflix's staff about Chappelle's special, ''The Closer.''
Sarandos previously defended the decision to air the show, saying Chappelle's language did not cross the line into inciting violence.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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