A Netflix software engineer who made headlines last month after publicly criticizing the company’s latest Dave Chappelle comedy special for including transphobic jokes has announced her resignation.
Terra Field, who was suspended and then reinstated after taking her concerns public, wrote on Twitter Monday that she is “not happy that this is how things turned out, but I do think this outcome is the best for all parties involved.”
Field, who identifies as queer and transgender, did not cite continuing grievances against the company in a resignation letter she shared online, but she did express her support for former Netflix employee B. Pagels-Minor, who co-led Netflix’s Trans* employee resource group before their termination last month. Pagels-Minor, who helped organize a walkout at the company over Chappelle’s special “The Closer,” was fired after being accused of leaking confidential information.
“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,” Field wrote in her resignation letter, which she said was submitted Sunday. She said she plans to take a month off to “rest, recover, and consider what I want to do next.”
Field was suspended in October, shortly after she accused Netflix on Twitter of promoting harmful transphobic beliefs by supporting Chappelle’s special, which debuted on Oct. 5. Netflix suspended Field two days after her Twitter thread went viral. The streaming company denied that Field had been suspended for her tweets, instead accusing her and two other employees of attending a virtual meeting of Netflix executives without being invited.
Field was reinstated a short time later. Netflix said an investigation found that she had attended the virtual meeting without “any ill intent,” and that a director had shared the link to join the event.
