Friday afternoon is always the best time to drop bad news, if you’re a major company. People are off to enjoy their weekend and the regular news cycle is pretty much done for the week. So, even though it happened all the way back on Friday, you might not realize that Netflix has had a rough weekend. It all started when the company announced they were parting ways with their chief communications officer, Jonathan Friedland, after he reportedly used the N-word on multiple occasions during staff meetings.
In a memo that was sent to staff (via Variety), Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said, “his descriptive use of the N-word on at least two occasions at work showed unacceptably low racial awareness and sensitivity, and is not in line with our values as a company.”
However, that’s not the end of the story. Two days after the announcement, Netflix randomly uploaded a new video, which also caught people’s attention, based on Friday’s events. The video, titled “A Great Day in Hollywood,” is narrated by the young star of “Stranger Things,” Caleb McLaughlin, as he describes how Black performers are leading the way, with their strong performances. Through the narration, you see many of the actors and actresses in Netflix’s arsenal, including “Luke Cage’s” Mike Colter, Spike Lee, “Dear White People’s” Logan Browning, and many more.
While no one questions the quality of the video, which is inspired by the famous photo “A Great Day in Harlem,” the timing is leading many people to be a bit skeptical. Clearly, based on the sheer amount of star power and the production value, “A Great Day in Hollywood” wasn’t thrown together in 48 hours. However, releasing it on the heels of Friday’s announcement and controversy is suspect, at best.
And now, here we are on Monday, with the damage done and the entertainment world being able to sit with the controversy for a few days. Even though the news is a few days old, the controversy is still hitting Netflix where it hurts – the bottom line. As of early today, the stock price for Netflix has dropped fairly significantly (down a little more than 6%, as of this writing). So even with the clear damage control of a Friday news drop and a beautifully shot and edited video, even Netflix isn’t bulletproof from controversy.