Los Angeles (AFP)

In his Netflix show "The Closer", the stand-up star responds to critics who have accused him in the past of making fun of transgender people, claiming that "gender is a fact" and that his detractors are "too sensitive".

"We respect the decision of any employee who chooses to walk away and recognize that we still have work to do both within Netflix and for our content," the streaming giant wrote on Wednesday in a statement to AFP.

The platform "understands the deep wound that has been caused."

“A list of firm demands” will be presented to Ted Sarandos, Netflix's co-executive director in charge of content, at the rally.

One of the organizers, Ashlee Marie Preston, said the venue had to be moved to accommodate a "crushing" mobilization.

The organizers did not specify the content of their requests but Ms. Preston mentioned "the safety and dignity of all marginalized communities".

Terra Field, a transgender employee of Netflix, meanwhile called on the company to precede "The Closer" with a warning on its content and promote more "queer and transgender comedians and talent."

"A workplace can't be a good place if you have to betray your community," she wrote in a blog post.

Dave Chappelle's show has been condemned by certain LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer) groups like GLAAD, lamenting, with supporting studies, the negative impact that the dissemination of stereotypes about minorities can have.

"I failed"

In a memo addressed to employees, Ted Sarandos had estimated that what was broadcast "on the screen did not translate directly into harmful consequences in the real world" and that the principle of freedom of expression prevailed.

But he ended up admitting Tuesday night to be wrong in interviews with several specialized publications of Hollywood: "I screwed up".

"First of all, I should have recognized that some of our employees were suffering, and that they felt really hurt by a business decision we had made," Sarandos told The Hollywood Reporter.

The boss of Netflix, however, reaffirmed that in his opinion, Dave Chappelle's show should not be removed from the platform.

Three employees, including Terra Field, were laid off for barging into a virtual executive meeting, before being reinstated.

Another employee was fired for disclosing confidential information about the cost of "The Closer".

The call for the walkout and rally was supported by small screen celebrities like Jameela Jamil ("The Good Place") and Jonathan Van Ness ("Queer Eye"), who recorded a cheering video.

Hannah Gadsby, whose Netflix show "Nanette" recounted her experience of homophobia as a lesbian woman, for her part castigated the "cult of an amoral algorithm" by the platform.

African-American comic, Dave Chappelle has been accused in the past of making fun of transgender people but remains extremely popular in the United States.

In this controversy, the comedian highlights his experience as a black man.

He believes that white gay men "are part of a minority until they need to be white again."

And he says LGBTQ communities have made more progress in a few years than blacks in decades.

© 2021 AFP