Top Netflix spokesman is fired after using the n-word twice during company meetings

In a word sensitivity meeting, no less.
Tone deaf? or racist?

Excerpts:
A memo was sent to employees at the streaming giant to announce Jonathan Friedland's departure, due to his 'unacceptably low racial awareness and sensitivity'.

Co-founder Reed Hastings explained in the memo, obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, that while the incident had occurred 'several months ago' he had only heard about the second offense recently.

He told employees in the first instance, Friedland had been in a PR meeting about sensitive words when he first said the word. He was later told his use of the word was 'inappropriate and hurtful', and Friedland apologized.

Hastings said he was alerted only this week to a second incident, which took place just days after the first, where Friedland had used the word again - to two black employees in HR who were trying to help him deal with the first offense.

'The second incident confirmed a deep lack of understanding, and convinced me to let Jonathan go now,' he wrote....

He ended the memo by commending Friendland for his achievements at the company and his assistance in turning the brand into a global entity.

'Jonathan has been a great contributor and he built a diverse global team creating awareness for Netflix, strengthening our reputation around the world, and helping make us into the successful company we are today,' he wrote.
Many of us have worked closely with Jonathan for a long time, and have mixed emotions. Unfortunately, his lack of judgment in this area was too big for him to remain.

'We care deeply about our employees feeling safe and supported at Netflix.'

Friedland took to Twitter not long after his abrupt exit from the Netflix offices to apologize for the 'distress this lapse caused'.





He later wrote in a tweet that was quickly deleted: 'Thanks. Rise high, fall fast. All on a couple of words...'

Friedland, a former journalist of more than 20 years, joined Netflix in 2011 after leaving Walt Disney Co, where he was the senior vice president of communications.

He was quickly promoted to chief communications officer at Netflix and held the top job for six years.

 

I'm trying to wrap my head around whether he is racist or like they alluded to with his low racial awareness is he racially ignorant. Usually High Class racist use coded racist language openly, not blunt language like throwing the n-word around publicly.

 

The problem is that some people hear blacks use it among themselves and by that think it is ok for them to use it too.

 

Young non-black people fall under this characterization because as a result of hip hop being a more integral part of their lives, they might not think twice about using the world "nigga". I recall watching the live videotaping of some of the early concerts by the Weeknd. At best black people would make up 20% to 25% of the people in the audience. The larger portion was made up of whites, Latinos, Asians, People of Mid Eastern descent, etc. The crowds would know every last word of every song and sing along the whole time. This includes use of the N word so if the Weeknd got to the part of the verse of "Crew Love" in which he shouted out "there's a room full of niggas", every one in the audience would sing the same thing without thinking twice about it. Based upon what I discovered on social media it became clear that non-black people under 25 especially felt it was completely appropriate to use the word and in fact they would mostly apply it to people who weren't even black. And as the case with black folks it could be used either as a term of endearment or of derision. I'm sure many of these people were a couple of years away from becoming racist conservatives but I'm also convinced that the majority started to use the word in the manner they did because of how rap music and also discussions between black people or interviews of hip hop celebs influenced them. This is why I don't use the word myself. Black people have normalize the word (even in its nigga form) in a way that white racists could only dream of. I understand the opposing view that the use of the word by blacks have diffused its original meaning but I tend to disagree with that.

Now the guy from Netflix would be an entirely different animal because he was not raised in that same time and thus would't be affected by the same culture. He would instead possibly fall under the category of white people who get mad that they can't use the word because they see black people being "allowed" to get away with doing it.

 

the Nword ending with ER and the one ending with an A . Are the same thing , i don't know why it's so hard to understand that. I get offended when black people use it.
you can't call yourself that and expect some one else not to call you that.