Russia puts Ukrainian President Zelenskyy on its wanted list
Russia has put Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on its wanted list, Russian state media reported Saturday, citing the interior ministry’s database.
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.
Russia has put Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on its wanted list, Russian state media reported Saturday, citing the interior ministry’s database.
A man was denied a $5,000 payout from his brother after a B.C. tribunal dismissed his claim disputing how many kittens were born in a litter.
A Chinese truck driver was praised in local media Saturday for parking his vehicle across a highway and preventing more cars from tumbling down a slope after a section of the road in the country's mountainous south collapsed and killed at least 48 people.
A man accused of arson in a January Old Strathcona apartment fire is expected to be charged with manslaughter after a body was discovered in the burned building late last month.
Ontario Provincial Police say two people were killed after a car and a transport truck collided in the westbound lanes of Highway 417 near Limoges, Ont. on Tuesday afternoon.
A Quebec man who pleaded guilty to threatening Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier François Legault has been sentenced to 20 months in jail.
Police are investigating after a BMW exploded in the St-Lambert Exo train station parking lot on Montreal's South Shore.
A group of lawyers has written what they call a groundbreaking book about how mental health is perceived in the legal profession.
Quebec provincial police handed out hundreds of fines to Hells Angels members and other supporting motorcycle clubs who met for their 'first run' in a small town near Sherbrooke, Que.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.