By: Isabella Urbani, Sports Editor
To our esteemed viewers, we hear you loud and clear.
Netflix was disheartened to learn of our users’ sudden discontentment with the platform’s dwindling content, amidst Riverdale being cleared for yet another season.
Since our first diversity report in 2021, diversity has been our number one priority. More people are asking for queer representation, and we hear you! It’s just so hard to accomplish accurate on-screen representation without backlash — especially from right-wing communities. Please know our reasoning for cancelling these shows is so we can produce even better queer content in the future, without being cancelled ourselves.
We also recognize that people of colour — particularly women of colour — make significantly less money in Hollywood than their white counterparts. This is why we plan on introducing a 1% raise for all our employees of colour. We also have plans to hire more BIPOC actors in the future! (Even though we previously forgot about the “I” in “BIPOC” in our report — mistakes happen.) As of 2021, we’ve increased our number of Latino/a/x employees by 0.7%. Sorry for cancelling One Day at a Time, Mr. Iglesias, and Gentefied. This makes up for it, and it’s a huge step! Just imagine what we can achieve by 2030. We trust you’ll understand that finding the right talent for each role is difficult, and may take time. In the meantime, we’re working on some awesome changes that we know you’ll love.
We commend all our users who took to social media to address the discrepancies in our latest coverage. Viewer satisfaction will always be our second number one priority. Because of your efforts, Netflix is requiring new content on our platform to have at least one person of colour present for at least one episode, or 20 minutes of screen time per series. These changes will be made effective at the start of summer 2023.
Please note that this policy does not apply to Netflix original shows, which currently make up 50% of the platform’s library. To do so would go against Netflix’s pledge of providing full creative control to directors and producers. While we have no authority over what the content we pay for looks like, we have a choice to promote non-Netflix films that have a scene with a BIPOC character in the background. Talk about progress!
To fund this endeavour, movies featuring BIPOC characters will fall under their own category, and only be available for viewing with a Netflix premium subscription — for the low cost of $20.99 a month. Make sure to get one as it lasts: films can be streamed for up to one year after their release to make room for the newest addition.
More details will be disclosed in our next monthly press release. Netflix cannot thank its users enough for seeking out this change. We want to reiterate once again that it is all because of YOUR hard work that executives made the decision to release this project (that has already been in the works for years).
Above all, we’re still learning. We hope you’ll join us on our journey towards progress, and that you’re just as excited as we are for what’s to come.
Netflix memberships cannot be cancelled for any reason during the inaugural running of this project.
Keep streaming (pls),
Netflix
