Terra Field, a Netflix employee at the center of worker-led protests against Dave Chappelle, is resigning from the company, she said Monday.
Field and her former colleague, B. Pagels-Minor, are also withdrawing an unfair labor practice charge they filed against the streaming giant in late October. In the charge, the employees accused Netflix of retaliating against them for organizing a company-wide walkout over Chappelle’s Netflix special “The Closer,” which trans workers and allies said included transphobic and homophoic content.
“My clients have resolved their differences with Netflix and will be voluntarily withdrawing their NLRB charge,” Laurie Burgess, a labor lawyer representing Pagels-Minor and Field, said. She declined to elaborate.
A Netflix spokesperson said the company and employees “have resolved our differences in a way that acknowledges the erosion of trust on both sides and, we hope, enables everyone to move on.” The spokesperson would not confirm whether the employees had signed a settlement agreement.
In October, Pagels-Minor, who is Black and trans, was fired while organizing the walkout. The company said Pagels-Minor had leaked confidential information, which the employee denied. Pagels-Minor previously helped lead the trans employee resource group at Netflix.
Field, who is also trans, was suspended after attending a director-level meeting she was not invited to. She was subsequently reinstated after Netflix found no ill intent in her actions. Prior to her suspension, Field posted a viral tweet thread about the special, which she said “attacks the trans community, and the very validity of transness.”
Field is now voluntarily resigning from the company. “This isn’t how I thought things would end, but I’m relieved to have closure,” she said in her resignation letter. “Shortly after B. was fired for something I did not and do not believe they did, I made a decision: sink or swim, I was going to walk side by side with B. as they had for so many of us while they led the Trans* ERG,” referring to the company’s employee resource group.
The employee-led protests against Netflix and Chappelle sparked a national conversation about the line between commentary and hate speech. Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said he didn’t believe Chappelle’s stand-up crossed the line. He also said “we have a strong belief that content on screen doesn’t directly translate to real-world harm.” He later walked back that statement, admitting that he’d “screwed up.”
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