Netflix Amplifies Media LGBafterthoughT with New Podcast

Many transgender people are tired of being treated like the black sheep of the movement.

It wasn’t a whole year ago that Netflix distributed “The Closer.” The Dave Chappelle lecture postured as comedy that eviscerated transgender people around the world, crutched up anti-trans extremism and set lose the hounds of bigotry on every visible trans person on social media who were left to defend themselves. The 1 hour and 12 minute oration that crawled to the number one spot on Netflix saw Chapelle blaming trans people for “Cancelling” him, asserted his belief that gender was binary and declare himself “Team Terf” as he championed gender critics like JK Rowling. It led to an organization of an employee walkout, firings and a resignation by trans employees and allies alike. It also proved that the myth of cancel culture- more specifically the self-declared victims of it, actually reap tremendous benefits. Chapelle launched a successful tour, signed more multi-million dollar contracts beyond the 24 million that Netflix paid for The Closer, and a High School theater being named in his honor. He was a trending topic on Twitter for over a week, was praised in hundreds of magazines and news articles and became a virtual mascot for gender critical extremists who don’t believe trans people exist or are threatening to society at large.

Now, Netflix, the streaming network that celebrates Gay Pride annually by changing its logo to a rainbow and has a category of content explicitly designed for LGBTQ audiences, is launching a new podcast called “The Gay Agenda.” It is being promoted as a podcast that “Celebrates the LGBT community.” The podcast was created by lesbian singer/songwriter and actress Jasmin Savoy Brown of the hit Showtime series Yellowjackets, and co-hosted by Liv Hewson, a nonbinary comedian and actor.

Let’s call it what it is. Performative. Brand maintenance. Illusory inclusion of the very trans people Netflix has left hanging off the end of their spear just 4 months ago.

Following the outcry from trans people, Netflix attempted to hide their contempt for transgender audiences by releasing an internal memo that dissuaded recruiters from talking about their anti-trans content, especially the Dave Chappelle special, and coached its staff on how to deal with…