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Being the Ricardos director and writer Aaron Sorkin defended Netflix‘s decision to keep a controversial Dave Chapelle special on its streaming platform, despite the comedian’s perceived transphobic remarks.

“My play, ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ had to shut down along with everyone else a year ago March, when COVID came along, and during that year and a half, five different school districts in the country banned the teaching of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ along with ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ and ‘Of Mice and Men,’” Sorkin said in an interview published in The Hollywood Reporter on Thursday.

“And people will point out to me, ‘Well, they use the N-word in To Kill a Mockingbird.’ Isn’t it better to have a discussion in class about this? Isn’t it an opportunity to talk about that word and why that word is almost holy in its power?” he asked.

According to The Hill, while Sorkin clarified that he did not agree with a number of points Chappelle made in his special, he defended the streaming giant’s choice to keep it on their platform despite mounting pressure to remove it. Sorkin helmed the film The Trial of the Chicago 7 for Netflix, which was released in 2020.

“Banning books, banning people. Now, I want to be clear, it’s one thing if someone is spreading dangerous misinformation or if because of someone’s speech, people are getting beaten up or worse, that’s entirely different,” said Sorkin. “But just someone offending you? I just think that’s the cost of doing business in a free society.”

Earlier this year, Netflix released a Chappelle special titled The Closer, in which he said “I’m Team TERF!” — referring to trans-exclusionary radical feminists — and claimed that “gender is a fact.”

A number of Netflix employees were outraged, and in response, staged a walkout to protest the special and show their solidarity within the trans community.

Despite backlash, Chappelle has refused to apologize for his comments.

“I say what I said, and, boy, I heard what you said. Oh, my God. How could I not?” Chappelle said to an audience in a video posted on Instagram in October.

Michael is a music and television junkie keen on most things that are not a complete and total bore. You can follow him on Twitter — @Tweetskoor