Netflix LGBTQ strategy executive quits after ‘eyebrow raising’ interview

The strategy lead for L.G.B.T.Q. content at Netflix has parted ways with the company just a week after he was the subject of an ‘eyebrow raising’ profile piece in The New York Times. 

Fran Tirado, 29, took to Twitter on May 21 to announce he had left the streaming service after 10 months and was on the lookout for a new job. 

On May 13, The Times published a profile on Tirado titled ‘The Pandemic Work Diary of Netflix’s Queer Champion’. In the article, the strategist claimed he took edibles and skipped a Q&A with the company’s chief executive, while also boasting that his job included ‘talking about gay porn’. 

According to The Hollywood Reporter, ‘sources indicated that the interview raised eyebrows [among other staff at Netflix] for overstating his position, among other potential red flags’. 

In addition to describing Tirado as the company’s ‘queer champion’, The Times piece stated that he was charged with ‘developing concepts for [Netflix] shows, working with a group of content creators for the company’s @Most social channel, and keeping tabs on the promotional campaigns for programs and movies’. 

The Times also published excerpts from a diary kept by Tirado which detailed the course of his work week. 

In an entry from Monday morning, Tirado wrote that he was ‘Slack [messaging] my agency to make sure a trailer debut is going up on time for ‘Circus of Books,’ a Ryan Murphy documentary about a historic gay pornography shop that is on the same block as my apartment.’

‘I literally get to talk about gay porn as my job, like, what is life?’ he enthused.  

Meanwhile, multiple diary entries referred to drug use.

In an entry from Monday night, the strategist stated: ‘I am too high to do my nighttime skin care route. Time for bed!’

The following day, Tirado wrote that he was chowing down on a galette because ‘the edible has hit’. 

According to The Hollywood Reporter, ‘sources indicated that Tirado’s interview raised eyebrows [among other staff at Netflix] for overstating his position, among other potential red flags’.

In an entry on Thursday, Tirado posted: ‘Our chief executive is doing an early-morning Q. and A., but I skip it to write.’ It’s believed he was referring to Reed Hastings, who has run Netflix since 1998. 

Tirado told The Times that, in addition to his strategy role, he was also writing a  feature film script, described as a ‘gay wedding rom-com’. 

Elsewhere in his work week diary, Tirado detailed a number of other important-sounding activities of which he was a part. 

These included ‘a weekly task force[meeting] to discuss the upcoming season of Queer Eye’, and a meeting to discuss the ‘digital premiere possibilities’ for the debut of the highly-anticipated series, Hollywood. 

It’s unclear whether The New York Times profile piece was related to Tirado’s decision to leave the company. 

However, it appears there was no animosity. He praised his editorial team and writer’s room in the tweet announcing his departure.  

It’s unclear whether The New York Times profile piece was related to Tirado’s decision to leave the company. However, it appears there was no animosity. He praised his editorial team and writer’s room in the tweet announcing his departure