Netflix Inc. fired an employee who it said had leaked confidential financial information about the streaming giant’s controversial Dave Chappelle stand-up comedy special “The Closer” to Bloomberg News, the company said Friday.

“We understand the employee may have been motivated by disappointment and hurt with Netflix, but maintaining a culture of trust and transparency is core to our company,” a Netflix spokesman said. The company didn’t identify the employee.

The...

Netflix Inc. fired an employee who it said had leaked confidential financial information about the streaming giant’s controversial Dave Chappelle stand-up comedy special “The Closer” to Bloomberg News, the company said Friday.

“We understand the employee may have been motivated by disappointment and hurt with Netflix, but maintaining a culture of trust and transparency is core to our company,” a Netflix spokesman said. The company didn’t identify the employee.

The leak of financial information, including the production costs for “The Closer,” came in the midst of a backlash among some Netflix employees over the content of the special, which include remarks that many in the transgender community have found offensive.

Netflix is known for its wide-open culture, which includes access to sensitive financial information and employee salaries to much of the company’s workforce. In other entertainment companies, such data is guarded much more closely.

It is rare for Netflix to experience leaks of such details about programming costs that it essentially hides in plain sight for employees to view. While the Netflix culture is known for its encouragement of radical candor and speaking one’s mind, that doesn’t apply to sharing nonpublic information about the company.

The pushback from employees inside Netflix has accelerated in the past few days. A transgender-employee group is urging all Netflix staffers to boycott work next Wednesday in protest.

In emails to staff, Netflix Co-Chief Executive Ted Sarandos acknowledged the hurt of some staffers while defending freedom of expression. However, the tone of the emails seems to have fallen short with some. 

Earlier Friday, Australian comedian Hannah Gadsby blasted Mr. Sarandos for being included in the company’s defense of Mr. Chappelle’s new special in one of Mr. Sarandos’s messages.

Ms. Gadsby, whose highly praised 2018 special “Nanette” and 2020 special “Douglas” both streamed on Netflix, called out Mr. Sarandos after Variety published an internal memo from Mr. Sarandos that cited Ms. Gadsby as an example of how the company seeks to elevate the voices of marginalized communities.

Hannah Gadsby, an Australian comedian, joined the criticism of Netflix amid a growing backlash against the streaming platform.

Photo: Charley Gallay/Getty Images

“Hey Ted Sarando

s! Just a quick note to let you know that I would prefer if you didn’t drag my name into your mess,” Ms. Gadsby wrote in an Instagram post early Friday. As a result, she said, she has to deal with more of the hate and anger that fans of Mr. Chappelle “like to unleash on me.”

“You didn’t pay me nearly enough to deal with the real world consequences of the hate speech dog whistling you refuse to acknowledge, Ted,” Ms. Gadsby added.

Netflix had no comment on Ms. Gadsby’s post. A representative for Ms. Gadsby didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Criticism of the “The Closer,” which was released last week and is currently among the most-watched programs on the service in the U.S., put Netflix on the defensive just as it was riding high from the success of “Squid Game,” a South Korean dystopian drama that made its debut last month and quickly became a global phenomenon.

In “The Closer,” Mr. Chappelle said “gender is a fact” and said he identified as a “TERF,” an acronym that stands for “trans-exclusionary radical feminist.” Mr. Chappelle said he isn’t a favorite of the trans community, then added, “Someone told me, ‘They after you, Dave,’ and I said, ‘One they or many theys?’ ”

He also was critical of how the trans community has responded to his previous specials as well as for attacking other artists who have made comments or expressed opinions that have been criticized by the LGBTQ community. “Stop punching down on my people,” Mr. Chappelle said at the conclusion of “The Closer.”

Terra Field, a Netflix software engineer who is transgender, criticized Mr. Chappelle on Twitter, saying the comedian targeted “the trans community, and the very validity of transness.”

The National Black Justice Coalition asked Netflix to take the special down. In a statement on Twitter, GLAAD said misinformation and stereotypes about LGBTQ people in film and television leads to “real world harm, especially for trans people & LGBTQ people of color.”

A representative for Mr. Chappelle didn’t respond to a request for comment.

In a companywide email earlier this week, Mr. Sarandos said the streaming platform wouldn’t take down the special, saying he didn’t believe the special incited violence.

Others have spoken up in defense of Mr. Chappelle’s special. “Anyone who can watch this special and think Chappelle is homophobic or transphobic is either stupendously dumb or a touchy fanatic,” journalist Andrew Sullivan wrote on Substack last week.

Some family members of Daphne Dorman, a late transgender comedian and friend of Mr. Chappelle’s, told the Daily Beast last week that Mr. Chappelle was “an LGBTQ ally.”

Netflix executives have noted that the company has been very proactive in creating content for the LGBTQ community and working with diverse performers. Shows it has made featuring LGBTQ performers include “Sense8,” “Orange Is the New Black,” “Sex Education” and “Control Z.” It also has a development deal with transgender producer Janet Mock.

Write to Joe Flint at Joe.Flint@WSJ.com and Jennifer Calfas at jennifer.calfas@wsj.com

Corrections & Amplifications
Dave Chappelle’s “The Closer” is currently among the most-watched programs on Netflix in the U.S. An earlier version of this article incorrectly spelled Mr. Chappelle’s last name as Chapelle. (Corrected on Oct. 15)