Netflix comms boss sacked for using very bad word

[robgmun]

Right now.

 

[Nasher]

Those articles refer to him being in a "PR meeting about sensitive words".

Surely if the meeting was to discuss sensitive words that may be broadcast, then surely that would have come up during the discussion. The second "offense" was a meeting with HR regarding the first "offense", so how could it not have come up as part of that!?

I'm with Dis on this one, sounds like the daily dose of PC nonsense we get subjected to.

Yep, total farce over basically nothing. But some guy loses his job over it. Sadly the same thing is going on all over the western world right now.

Is Netflix going to pull all the movies using racial slurs? Probably not.

 

[Dis86]

Worth also noting Netflix is the same company that recently binned Danny masterson over sexual assault and rape allegations even though he was found innocent 10 years ago and the police have no intentions to prosecute over more recent allegations.

 

[BowdonUK]

This is how pathetic society as become. I would even say that more white people are triggered by certain words than their usual targets.

I think whoever complained about the use of the word in a meeting to discuss sensitive words needs to be given the sack.

 

[SpeedFreak]

Surely there is some info missing here? I can't believe he would have been sacked if it happened as reported.

 

[dowie]

"In a descriptive context"?

What does that actually mean? Why couldn't he say black person or use the term 'n-word'?

Because he's referring to a specific word - I think you're missing the point if you're asking why he can't say "black person" in its place in this context, he could perhaps have said "n-word" and then perhaps provided further clarification about whether he's referring to the version ending in "a" or "er". Though really you'd have assumed that in an internal meeting among adult professionals then you'd be able to have a more sensible conversation.

I don't know where you work but where I work the directors are very well spoken and have excellent communication skills that have very clearly been honed and of course trained, for some.

Like I said, if they got fired for saying something else they shouldn't have said then this wouldn't be a story.

N-word, f-word, c-word... you name it, I would not expect a director to utter those words, f word perhaps if something hit the fan but that'd most likely be behind closed doors. Especially from a comms director lol.

I'm not triggered at all, I'll happily call people names but I do have the capacity to realise what situation I'm in.

Well it was an internal meeting and in the second instance a meeting by himself with HR - that is about as behind closed doors as you can get in a professional context. I'm not sure how relevant your personal workplace experience is though tbh...is the place where you work somewhere that would produce content containing those words? If not then I don't see the relevance here - I wouldn't expect there to be many reasons why someone in say a software firm or accountancy firm would have any need to use those words.

We also don't know the exact situation. If he was reading it off a list then it's most likely a case of unfair dismissal.

Unlikely since it is the US, employment is generally "at will".

 

[Hotwired]

Again one of these stories, but nothing saying what the actual context was.

Still, have a think about how badly he must have pitched it if in a theoretically suitable context it managed to be unsuitable.

A poor showing for his job title.

Or, or we can jump on the bandwagon of PC gone mad.

 

[arknor]

I wonder how many songs that use the Nword were wrote by white song writers

but then the rapper or whatever has no problem with it as long as he gets his monies... but has a problem if white people sing the correct lyrics.

Everyone who hasn't crawled out from under a rock should know by now that the acceptable word is "African American".

they are hardly African though

the whole thing makes no sense, they should just stop self promoting the word if they want people to stop using it

 

[Hotwired]

How could I not mention it.

Here we are in a theoretically suitable context and we're not saying THE WORD. Everyone from the thread starter onwards.

Why are we not saying THE WORD in a descriptive context here? Are you slaves to correctness?

Already playing by the same rules you think you're mocking.

 

[dowie]

QUOTE="Hotwired, post: 31906309, member: 86236"]Still, have a think about how badly he must have pitched it if in a theoretically suitable context it managed to be unsuitable.[/quote]

The context we have is that it was used in a descriptive sense in a professional meeting and again in a private meeting with HR. The issue seems to be simply that he said the word regardless of context.

How could I not mention it.

Here we are in a theoretically suitable context and we're not saying THE WORD. Everyone from the thread starter onwards.

Why are we not saying THE WORD in a descriptive context here? Are you slaves to correctness?

Already playing by the same rules you think you're mocking.

Not really, there are clear rules for this forum. People also avoid swearing on here.

 

[Nasher]

Still, have a think about how badly he must have pitched it if in a theoretically suitable context it managed to be unsuitable.

A poor showing for his job title.

Or, or we can jump on the bandwagon of PC gone mad.

It often doesn't seem to matter what the context is.

All it takes is some flake in the next room just hearing the word and make a complaint. Which is what happened to someone I know, the context was clean but they still got dragged through the mud by HR. No matter how much colleagues and people who were involved in the conversation tried to defend them, they didn't care. She ended up being suspended with pay for 3 months, then the whole thing got dropped. Total farce.

 

[Tefal]

I read these headlines about the story initially thinking Communications director, he really should know better, what a numpty, just don't use *that* word FFS!

But then the details of the story seem to paint a different picture:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-44585072

https://deadline.com/2018/06/jonath...ef-following-insensitive-comments-1202415977/

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...han-Friedland-fired-using-N-word-meeting.html

While I wouldn't expect there to be many reasons why someone in a regular office job should utter the word actually the fact that he was a head of communications and the meeting was a PR meeting where the topic of discussion was sensitive words... well I guess given they are a company that puts out content where that word might be used then it isn't quite so far fetched that someone might use it in a descriptive sense in such a meeting. He's not referring to any person, he's not repeating some rap lyrics, he's not trying to use it in some misguided humorous way - he's the head of communications trying to have an adult conversation about sensitive words and he's used it in a descriptive context. But people got triggered...

He's then apparently apologised to the people in the meeting later he's seemingly had to meet with two (the articles makes a note of the fact that they're black) HR personnel about the incident and seems to have uttered the word a second time there - almost certainly in a descriptive sense again. Presumably, though he knows not to use it in a big meeting given the flake he received, he perhaps thought that he could have a candid/factual discussion with HR? Seemingly not, they were apparently triggered too and apparently he hadn't learned his lesson...

So now some random exec who probably wasn't a racist and was presumably otherwise quite decent at his job gets sacked because, well that is expected these days... he's of course issued a grovelling apology on twitter. It just seems bizarre, I don't think it would be quite as controversial in the UK, it isn't unheard of to see for example white people use the word in a purely descriptive sense on UK TV shows (Frankie Boyle, Stuart Lee etc...) but we do seem to follow the US in this sense and it does seem that as a society we're getting a bit oversensitive to the point where things get a bit silly.

he was using it to discus its use in comedy shows.

not sure if you;'ve seen any black comedy shows but its like the 6th most popular word spoken after, the, be, to , of and and....

 

[Tefal]

Everyone who hasn't crawled out from under a rock should know by now that the acceptable word is "African American".

racist! what about black people who aren't from Africa eh?

 

[Destination]

racist! what about black people who aren't from Africa eh?

dem be...…

 

[Tefal]

no one has mentioned the third incident though!?

he was also remanded for not later mentioning he had used the n word to black employees later >.<

thats surely damned if you do damned if you dont

 

[Tefal]

dem be...…

i cant spell the word for the ones in Australasia

not even close enough for spell check to get it

 

[rare]

How can you have a meeting to discuss sensitive words but you can’t say the sensitive words within that meeting.

Sorry whut? It was in internal meeting. Discussing sensitive words.

I’m lost. The world is going mad.

 

[Minusorange]

use the term 'n-word'?

Because they're adults not ******* 5 year old kids who should be able to have a mature discussion and use the correct words in context without people feigning faux outrage because they're intellectually immature to actually understand the context of what's being said

 

[Tefal]

Because he was talking about the use of bigger in comedy shows shown on Netflix.

It's a bit childish to say nword when talking about a program that uses bigger every 5 sexonds

"In a descriptive context"?

What does that actually mean? Why couldn't he say black person or use the term 'n-word'?

I'm not sure why there is an uproar about this? A director especially has to be careful about what they say because they represent the company. They can be fired for a lot less. Non-story. It's only in the press because of the word used...

God I love autocorrect its gets n to bigger but leaves sexonds

 

[Tefal]

How can you have a meeting to discuss sensitive words but you can’t say the sensitive words within that meeting.

Sorry whut? It was in internal meeting. Discussing sensitive words.

I’m lost. The world is going mad.

especially when they're sentivie words you're actively broadcasting