Popular streaming giant Netflix is at the forefront of controversy following allegations made by Old Navy sales associates. According to reports, Netflix's hit show Queer Eye was filming on location in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania when worker says they were told to keep out of the way. The employees believe that they were told to stand in the back and out of the camera's view because they were persons of color while ten white Old Navy workers were called in from other locations for the taping.
"My job is nothing but people of color," Monae Alvarado reportedly wrote on Facebook. "Most of us did an overnight to help make the store look beautiful. Today they brought all these workers from other store around the region (West Chester, Mount Pocono, and Deptford NJ) and they were all white. They had us standing in the back not to be seen while the other workers from another store get to work on our floor like it's their store. The shade I tell you."
"Old Navy is supposed to be a company that accepts ethnic diversity and they should show it," Alvarado continued in her comments. "Unfortunately pushing their non-white employees out of sight for a whitewashed TV publicity show is not accepting ethnic diversity but is just the opposite: prejudice, racism and discrimination."
Old Navy issued a statement saying that they are an all-inclusive company and Queer Eye will feature the store's manager, a person of color, in the upcoming episode. "We also worked with additional employees in the area to help ensure the store ran seamlessly for customers, as the location was open for business during filming, and we expect they may appear in background shots," the company stated. "These individuals are reflective of our diverse employee population. We would never select employees to participate – or not – based on race. That is completely inaccurate and against the values we stand for as a company."
Meanwhile, Netflix didn't want to have their name included in any of the drama. They made a statement of their own, saying they had nothing to do with the staffing choices Old Navy decided to make. They did, however, mention that "production featured one female employee, an African American manager, who completed an on-camera styling consultation and also served as a point of contact for our crew."
