Netflix’s recent axing of 290 staff targeted many of the firm’s wokest workers who are prolific social justice warriors on social media, it has been claimed.
The struggling streaming service has pulled the plug on several projects that were aimed at discussing race and LGBTQ issues, Variety reported, and axed the diverse employees working on and promoting them.
A total of 150 recruitment workers were fired, as well as another 70 animators, and 70 contractors working on promotional materials for the firm including social media and publishing.
Those promotional workers were assigned to work on Netflix projects Strong Black Lead, the Asian American-focused Golden, the Latino-focused Con Todo, and the LGBTQ-focused Most.
Netflix claimed its latest layoffs were due to ‘a slow down in revenue and decline in subscribers.’ But critics online say many of those given the boot were from minority groups – and others have speculated that the firings were part of a woke clear-out.
Common Sense with Bari Weiss’s weekly TGIF newsletter said: ‘The company framed the firings as “layoffs”—but 150 people doesn’t really make a dent for a company of 11,000 people. Those 150 happen to include, just by chance, some of the most Twitter-active social justice workers in the place.’
The streamer has found itself at odds with some woke staff who’ve gone on the record to slam their employer over shows they deem ‘harmful’, including Dave Chappelle’s The Closer comedy special.
Among the newly fired were Olivia Truffaut-Wong and Lydia Wang, who shared their upset on Twitter.
‘I was also laid off by Netflix today,’ Wang tweeted on Tuesday. ‘I really loved my job and my colleagues and I am a little heartbroken!’
Truffaut-Wong also wrote on Tuesday: ‘OK, yes, I am one of the Tudum layoffs (lol). I did a lot of work I’m proud of, met a lot of really awesome writers and editors, and made great friends. It’s the cycle of media life!’
H. Drew Blackburn, another laid off employee, recalled the turbulent saga where he did not know whether or not he had a job or not.
‘An editor at Netflix’s little Tudum project just called me offering me a job with Tudum again,’ Blackburn tweeted after he was fired. ‘Then called me back 20 mins later to say they had the wrong Drew. Bright minds over there for sure.’
Tudum is Netflix’s marketing website which offered fans more in-depth information about its shows.
Netflix’s move also drew backlash form media critics and other animators who slammed the streaming company for leaving its employees high and dry after previously preaching the need to have a more diverse workforce.
Filmmaker Carly Usdin called Netflix ‘a joke’ and tweeted: ‘Uhhh is netflix only laying off the teams associated with making and promoting content for marginalized viewers?? that’s what it seems like.’
Karla Monterroso, who works to secure economic opportunities for women of color, tweeted: ‘Netflix hired a powerhouse team of creators from a variety of marginalized communities and they were performing exceptionally well.
‘Had us all invested in their work. They were then the first people they showed the door at the first financial difficulty.’
