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Netflix announced a new round of layoffs Tuesday (May 17). This time, the 150 affected employees came from within three of the streaming platform's major diversity departments, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Creative teams with the African American content-focused unit Strong Black Lead, the Latinx content unit Con Todo, and its LGBTQ+ content collective Most were laid off this week, just three weeks after Netflix shut down its fan-focused website Tudum, comprised of mostly women and women of color recently hired by the streaming company.
In its announcement this week, Netflix said the layoffs were because of a "slowdown in revenue and a decline in subscribers," and that terminating "jobs" was "primarily driven by business needs rather than individual performance," as reported by the LA Times.
Writer–creator Lana Dot took to Twitter following the news, confirming the layoffs and offering a bit of inspiration for those in the business.
"Thank you to everyone sending kind words. Yes I was laid off yesterday with a host of other brilliant people at N*tfl*x," Dot wrote, adding a "silver lining" from the situation: a wave of available and "brilliant" Black and Brown creators.
Twitter erupted after the news, raising concerns about future content, the platform's unstable employment opportunities amid record-high inflation, and upcoming months like Black Music Month and Pride.
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