Air turbulence: When can it become dangerous?
Flight turbulence like that encountered by a Singapore Airlines flight on Tuesday is extremely common, but there's one aspect of severe turbulence an aviation expert says can lead to serious injury.
Netflix is defending Dave Chappelle's new comedy special after it has been criticized as transphobic by some LGBTQ+ advocates, artists and employees.
Chappelle's special, "The Closer," which debuted on Netflix last week, includes several minutes of jokes about trans people. The comedian says in the special he is "team TERF," referencing the term for "trans-exclusionary radical feminist."
"Gender is a fact," Chappelle says. "Every human being in this room, every human being on earth, had to pass through the legs of a woman to be on earth. That is a fact."
He talks about backlash he received after making jokes about Caitlyn Jenner and other trans people in previous specials, criticizes cancel culture around author JK Rowling and references his friendship with Daphne Dorman, a trans woman and fellow comedian who opened for him at one of his San Francisco shows. Dorman died by suicide in 2019, which Chappelle addresses in "The Closer."
In an October 8 email to employees from Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos and obtained by The Verge and Variety, the executive defended the special.
"Several of you have also asked where we draw the line on hate. We don't allow titles on Netflix that are designed to incite hate or violence, and we don't believe The Closer crosses that line. I recognize, however, that distinguishing between commentary and harm is hard, especially with stand-up comedy which exists to push boundaries," Sarandos wrote to staff. "Some people find the art of stand-up to be mean spirited but our members enjoy it, and it's an important part of our content offering."
CNN has not independently verified the email.
Netflix has suspended three employees for attending a virtual meeting of directors and vice presidents last week without notifying the meeting organizer in advance, according to a source with knowledge of the matter.
One of the suspended employees is Terra Field. Field, a senior software engineer who identifies as queer and trans, had publicly criticized "The Closer" on Twitter last week. Her suspension is due to her attendance at the meeting and not her tweets, according to the source.
"It is absolutely untrue to say that we have suspended any employees for tweeting about this show. Our employees are encouraged to disagree openly and we support their right to do so," a Netflix spokesperson told CNN when asked about the suspensions.
Field, tweeted last week that Chappelle's special ridiculed the existence of trans people.
"Promoting TERF ideology (which is what we did by giving it a platform yesterday) directly harms trans people, it is not some neutral act," Field wrote. "This is not an argument with two sides. It is an argument with trans people who want to be alive and people who don't want us to be."
Field ended her thread with the names of 37 trans and gender non-conforming people who've been killed throughout 2021.
GLAAD, the LGBTQ media advocacy organization, has also condemned comments made in "The Closer" and on Monday issued a statement in response to news of the suspensions and the email from Sarandos.
"Netflix has a policy that content 'designed to incite hate or violence' is not allowed on the platform, but we all know that anti-LGBTQ content does exactly that. While Netflix is home to groundbreaking LGBTQ stories, now is the time for Netflix execs to listen to LGBTQ employees, industry leaders, and audiences and commit to living up to their own standards," the organization tweeted.
CNN has reached out to representatives of Chappelle.
In "The Closer," Chappelle says the special will be the last time he will publicly comment on trans people or issues.
Flight turbulence like that encountered by a Singapore Airlines flight on Tuesday is extremely common, but there's one aspect of severe turbulence an aviation expert says can lead to serious injury.
British Columbia serial killer Robert Pickton was attacked and sustained life-threatening injuries in a Quebec prison Sunday in what officials described as a 'major assault.'
In his latest column for CTVNews.ca, former NDP leader Tom Mulcair argues that if there's an unofficial frontrunner in the eventual race to replace Justin Trudeau as Liberal leader, it has to be former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney.
The Toronto Blue Jays have offered tickets and a signed baseball to a fan who says she was struck in the face by a 110 m.p.h (177 km/h) foul ball at Friday’s game.
Members of a killer whale pod related to an orphan orca calf that escaped a remote British Columbia tidal lagoon last month have been spotted off the northeast coast of Vancouver Island.
Ontario Provincial Police continue to investigate a long weekend fatal boat collision on Bobs Lake, north of Kingston, Ont.
An investigation has been opened into the death of Matthew Perry and how the “Friends” actor received the anesthetic ketamine, which was ruled a contributing factor in his death.
New inflation data is 'welcome news' for consumers and an economist says it could signal the possibility for a interest rate cut as several core measures also continue to ease.
House of Commons Speaker Greg Fergus is facing fresh Conservative-led calls to resign, this time over "very partisan" and 'inflammatory' language used – the Liberals say mistakenly – to promote an upcoming event.
Montreal photographer captured the moment a Canada Goose defended itself from a fox at the Botanical Garden.
Public libraries in Atlantic Canada are now lending a broader range of items.
Flashes of purple darting across the sky mixed with the serenading sound of songs will be noticed more with spring in full force in Manitoba.
Catching 'em all with impressive speed, a 7-year-old boy from Windsor, Ont. who only started his competitive Pokémon journey seven months ago has already levelled up to compete at a world championship level.
A sanctuary dedicated to animals with disabilities is celebrating the third birthday of one of its most popular residents.
2b Theatre recently moved into the old Video Difference building, seeking to transform it into an artistic hub, meeting space, and temporary housing unit for visiting performers in Halifax.
A B.C. woman says her service dog pulled her from a lake moments before she had a seizure, saving her life.
A Starbucks fan — whose name is Winter — is visiting Canada on a purposeful journey that began with a random idea at one of the coffee chain's stores in Texas.
Members of Piapot First Nation, students from the University of Winnipeg and various other professionals are learning new techniques that will hopefully be used for ground searches of potential unmarked grave sites in the future.