Elliot Page and Dan Levy among stars supporting Netflix employee walkout over Dave Chappelle trans jokes

• Netflix stars joined employees in demanding better treatment of trans issues.
• Employees staged a walkout yesterday in response to Dave Chappelle's Netflix special.

Multiple Netflix stars including Elliot Page and Dan Levy shared support on social media for the Netflix employees participating in a walkout in protest of Dave Chappelle's Netflix special, which includes jokes at the expense of the trans people.

Chappelle's sparked controversy in his comedy special "The Closer" for his defense of JK Rowling over her TERF (trans-exclusionary radical feminist) comments, saying "gender is a fact" and describing himself as "Team TERF." Chappelle has faced backlash in the past for his jokes about the trans community.

The Verge reported that Netflix's trans employee resource group proceeded to organize a walkout calling for Netflix to create content that "represents and uplifts Trans content" after the co-CEO Ted Sarandos defended the special in an internal memo.

Billy Eichner, Mae Martin, Elliot Page, and Dan Levy yesterday posted on Instagram and Twitter about the walkouts.

Eichner tweeted in response to a post by Ashley Marie Preston who was one of the organizers of the walkout: "Sending my love and full support to all trans employees and their allies participating in the #NetflixWalkout today."

"I stand with the trans, nonbinary, and BIPOC employees at Netflix fighting for more and better trans stories and a more inclusive workplace," Page, who stars in Netflix's "The Umbrella Academy" series and came out as transgender last year, wrote.

In this post, he linked to a video put up on Wednesday starring multiple Netflix stars and trans activists giving their support to the employee walkout. The video titled "Stand Up in Solidarity with Team Trans* at Netflix!" included "The Good Place" actress Jameela Jamil, Jonathan Van Ness from "Queer Eye," and "Pose" star Angelica Ross.

"Schitt's Creek" star Levy, who reportedly signed a major deal with Netflix last month, shared a statement to his Instagram and Twitter pages that read: "I stand with every employee at Netflix using their voice to ensure a safe and supportive work environment. I've seen first-hand how vital television can be when it comes to influencing the cultural conversation. That impact is real and works both ways: positively AND negatively."

"Transphobia is unacceptable and harmful. That isn't a debate," he added.

Comedian Martin, whose comedy Feel Good is available on Netflix, also shared a statement on their Instagram. "I don't think it's very difficult to be funny without ridiculing marginalised groups and contributing to a culture of transphobia that directly results in disproportionate levels of violence, suicide, and discrimination," they wrote.

"As a trans/non-binary person who works with Netflix this has been a true bummer, but I'm hopeful for positive and thoughtful reflection moving forward. And lols, am I right? Remember lols?" they added.

Deadline Editor Dominic Patten also reported that Joey Soloway, the creator of the Emmy award-winning show about a trans character and her family, "Transparent," was at the walkout demanding that a trans person be put on the board of Netflix.

Sarandos has since apologized for his memo telling Variety that he "should have led with a lot more humanity" but still thinks the special should stay on the platform. However, a former Netflix employee who helped organize the walkout on Wednesday tweeted that Sarandos "still misses the point" and that the walkout is about "more trans content, investment in trans talent, and promoting trans content."

B. Pagels-Minor told The New York Times that they were fired after being accused of leaking internal data, which they deny doing.