‘Shame on Netflix’: Rachel Dolezal documentary causes controversy among subscribers

Viewers are not happy about the upcoming film

Netflix users have objected to the streaming service’s announcement of a forthcoming documentary about Rachel Dolezal, a former civil rights activist who lied about having African-American ancestry.

Viewers criticised the platform for funding a project based on a white woman passing as black, rather than shows which feature genuine black women.

One Twitter user wrote: “Oh hell no! When PERFORMING blackness gets more attention than actually BEING BLACK.”

Another posted: So @netflix just announced the Rachel Dolezal documentary. It's called #TheRachelDivide and I'm in my office screaming why is this happening?”

A third wrote: “Rachel Dolezal is getting a documentary on Netflix. I can't wait to watch the struggles of a white woman pretending to be a black woman OR Netflix could always just go ahead and make a documentary about a black woman but that would be crazy.”

“Hey @Netflix, Rachel Dolezal doesn't need a documentary streamed on your site. She's fraudulent and problematic. Why don't you take all that money and put it towards projects made by real black women?” tweeted a fourth.

Netflix was forced to defend its decision to air The Rachel Divide, denying claims that it had paid Dolezal for the series.

Controversial: Netflix users have slammed its new Rachel Dolezal documentary
Netflix

It tweeted responses to a few concerned users, writing: “To clarify one thing: Like all subjects for our documentaries, Rachel Dolezal did not receive any payment for this project.

“We worked with filmmakers Laura Brownson and Roger Ross Williams, who wanted to explore Dolezal’s life as a microcosm for a larger conversation about race and identity.

“The film is focused not just on her life but on the larger conversation, including people who see her actions as the ultimate expression of white privilege.”

Netflix - In pictures

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In the trailer for the series, which profiles the effect of Dolezal’s identification as black on her family, she can be seen arguing with her son.

He tells her: “I really don’t want to focus on this for the rest of my life.”

To which she responds: “Do you think I do?”

Her son hits back: “Well why don’t you just let it go away? Why did the interviews have to happen then, mum?”

Filmmaker Laura Brownson spent two years filming Dolezal and her two sons in an attempt to better understand what the disgraced civil rights activist calls her ‘trans-racial’ identity.

The Rachel Divide arrives on Netflix in April.

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