Netflix have announced they’ll be fixing their captioning service after Queer Eye’s Karamo Brown used his platform to share the concerns of his deaf and hard of hearing fans who had criticised the media service for heavily editing their closed captions.
In a statement tweeted to their official account for tech issues Netflix acknowledged “there’s lots of dialogue missing from the Fab 5 that shouldn’t be. We’re fixing it. In some cases, we do bleep incidental profanity from our unscripted series.”
The streaming giant then thanked Brown and Queer Eye fans for bringing the poor captions to their attention.
Delivering a great experience to our deaf and hard of hearing members is very important to us. We’ve also heard from fans about a similar concern in Marvel’s Luke Cage Season 2 – we’re looking into this now.
We’ve heard about the caption issues on the service, specifically for @QueerEye. After looking into it, there’s lots of dialogue missing from the Fab 5 that shouldn’t be. We’re fixing it. In some cases, we do bleep incidental profanity from our unscripted series.
— Netflix CS (@Netflixhelps) June 28, 2018
Brown retweeted the statement in appreciation:
This makes me happy. Another reason I love working for @netflix 🤟🏾🤟🏽🤟🏼🤟🏻 https://t.co/W1IsH6VdpO
— Karamo (@Karamo) June 28, 2018
In April, Brown announced he would be adding subtitles to all new video content on his social media:
I’m committing to making small changes in my life to support my disabled brothers and sisters. You will now see my videos captioned for my deaf or hard of hearing friends. I would love for you to post other ways we can support our brothers and sisters living with a disability.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BhpSqDJFzs1/?hl=en&taken-by=karamobrown
Last week, fans of Queer Eye took to their social media to criticise Netflix for censoring and even changing certain swear words throughout the wildly popular series.
i really wish @netflix captions for #QueerEye2 weren’t bleeping profanity AND changing the profanity used in the captions. it’s really not awesome
— cy. ace tilton ratcliff ♿️ (@MortuaryReport) June 27, 2018
In her Twitter thread Ace Ratcliff wrote that edited captions “fundamentally changes the experience of the television show for anyone who is Deaf or HOH, and it does so without their consent. That’s seriously ableist.”
ugh yup. they do it w every episode of designated survivor too, right down to rephrasing entire sentences in the subtitles from what was said. i rely on the subtitles to fully “hear” and designated survivor was so incredibly hard to watch bc of it
— Scout Barbour-Evans (@scoutriver) June 27, 2018
So I’m not crazy! They change alot of words from time to time too. I’m not HOH but I read better and faster than I can hear. Every time I watch I’m like I dont think that’s what he said… or that sentence does not make sense with that word…
— Carleigh (@NotSoQuietMouse) June 28, 2018
After seeing these complaints Brown vowed he would bring up the issue with Netflix internally and “wouldn’t stop until something changes. Deaf and HOH people should have the same experience as everyone else!”
Reading everyone’s comments breaks my heart. I don’t know how much power I have but know, the next time I’m at Netflix I’m going to bring up this issue internally & wont stop until something changes. Deaf & HOH people should have the same experience as everyone else! #TypoFixed https://t.co/AQ4emvgUBv
— Karamo (@Karamo) June 28, 2018
Ratcliff has encouraged Netflix viewers of every ability to report evidence of incorrect captioning by submitting the error via their settings function.
to do so, head into your @netflix account! settings > viewing activity > find the problem episode(s) > report a problem > problem with subtitle or captions
— cy. ace tilton ratcliff ♿️ (@MortuaryReport) June 27, 2018
Fans also brought up issues of whitewashing AAVE (African-American Vernacular Speech), editing the speech of individuals who speak with broken English, and writing “(speaks Italian)” instead of translating the speech for the viewer’s understanding.
If someone is speaking AAVE, DO IT WORD FOR WORD. Don’t “clean it up,” that’s insulting. If someone isn’t speaking “perfect” English, don’t fucking change it. If they umm, uhh, stammer, I WANT THAT TOO. I. Want. Word. For. Word.
— 🏳️🌈 Rogan Shannon 🏳️⚧️ (@shan_no_nosays) June 24, 2018
I understand bits and parts of other languages, I want to see full transcription of what’s being said. It’s not fair to take that information away from us, when people who can hear get everything even if they don’t fully understand it.
— 🏳️🌈 Rogan Shannon 🏳️⚧️ (@shan_no_nosays) June 24, 2018
Netflix have yet to address these particular captioning issues.
