On Tuesday, May 28th, Nicole Byer spoke out against Netflix on Twitter for a white washed thumbnail image.
What We Know:
- On Tuesday, @dylsauce, a fan of the Netflix show Nailed It, tweeted a comment regarding its most recent thumbnail image. Nicole Byer is the host of the show and is accompanied by Jacques Torres, the head judge, and Weston Bahr, the assistant director. Unfortunately, the thumbnail only shows Torres and Bahr, who are both white men. “I remember reading somewhere that @Netflix puts men on the thumbnails of shows and movies a lot, but yo – this is NUTS. @nicolebyer is NAILED IT. I love wes and chef Jacques but COME ON – this is upsetting.”
- Nailed It is a baking competition on Netflix. It features amateur bakers that attempt to replicate complicated cake and dessert dishes. Byer is the host of the show and provides a lot of improvised comedic relief. Torres provides the bakers with baking advice while they are working. Lastly, Bahr is responsible for bringing out the prizes to the bakers.
- After seeing the thumbnail image, Byer tweeted a series of comments regarding it. “If Netflix didn’t sign my checks and give me a huge platform and opportunity to showcase my comedy. I would talk about how fucked up and disrespectful this is to me a black woman. Also how black woman are a lot of times erased from many different conversations.” Byer also discussed how she felt this showed that Netflix didn’t value her as a host and they were “white washing for more views”. Through the hurt, Byer did admit that she still loves her job. ” To be clear. I know there are thumbnails with and without my face… This one just seems for lack of a better word deliberate. Again I love my job.”
- Luckily, there was a resolution made regarding the thumbnails. Later that day, Byer posted a follow up tweet. “I deleted my last set of tweets bc I talked to one of the execs on my show about it and the thrilling conclusion is the removal of the image and a conversation about how the thumbnails are made and selected that I’m happy with.”
- In 2016, Netflix revealed how they chose thumbnails in a blog post. Netflix explained that “humans are hardwired to respond to faces.” The post also explains how having more than three faces in the thumbnail caused a decrease in the success of the thumbnail.
Netflix has not spoken up or commented on the situation.
