Marc Maron has hit out at Netflix for its response to critics of Dave Chappelle’s stand-up specials, calling the platform’s reaction a “pivotal moment.”
Dave Chappelle was criticized for jokes told during his 2021 Netflix special The Closer, which led to several Netflix employees walking out. It also led to GLAAD saying the comedian’s brand had “become synonymous with ridiculing trans people and other marginalized communities.” Despite this backlash, Chappelle went on to release more content for Netflix, including his 2023 stand-up special The Dreamer.
Appearing on the Pod Save America podcast, actor and comedian Marc Maron criticized Netflix’s response to the Chappelle backlash, saying that it had disregarded the trans community.
Marc Maron says Netflix could become ‘Reich-flix’
Maron was asked for his thoughts on politics in comedy, which is when he brought up the subject of the response to Chappelle’s Netflix special.
“Fascism is good for business,” Maron said. “Like Netflix will just co-opt anybody that can tick that algorithm. I used to do a joke about it, that Netflix can become ‘Reich-flix’ very quickly. And I think the pivotal moment was when they had pushback from the trans community about [Dave] Chapelle, they realized after several days that community was not going to effect their bottom line at all, and they cut them loose. And that is how fascism works in business.”
Watch the full podcast appearance below:
