Netflix CEO Reed Hastings Donates $120 Million to Historically Black Institutions

Netflix’s Reed Hastings is taking part of his billion dollar fortune and will contribute to historically black institutions According to CNBC, Hastings will donate a sum of $120 million to “institutions dedicated to the higher education of students of color.” Hastings, along with wife Patty Quillin, will donate $40 million to the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), as well as historically black universities Spelman College and Morehouse College.

“There are many good places to donate, but the [historically black colleges and universities] are 150 years old, incredibly resilient, producing an amazing number of black graduates,” Hastings told CNBC. “The amount of tragedy really did get us to focus and say, ‘let’s do something now that will be supportive of these great institutions and give people some sense of hope. This moment is not the first time that racism has reared its, you know, terribly ugly head.”

News of Hasting’s donation comes a day after Variety reported that Netflix announced they will donate $5 million to organizations, including Ghetto Film School, Black Public Media and Colin Kaepernick’s Know Your Rights Camp, that help black creators, black youth and black-owned businesses in the U.S.

To support budding creators, Netflix will donate $1.5 million total to Ghetto Film School, Film Independent’s Project Involve, Firelight Media and Black Public Media, Variety said. The streamer will also donate $1 million grants to three youth-oriented organizations: Know Your Rights Camp, the Posse Foundation and Black Girls Code. In addition, Netflix has pledged to give $500,000 to black-owned businesses in Los Angeles through the nonprofit group Vermont Slauson Economic Development (VSEDC), according to Variety.

The streaming giant has also not been shy about axing problematic content off their platform. Last week, the Matt Lucas and David Walliams-helmed sketch show “Little Britain,” as well as its follow-up “Come Fly With Me,” were removed from the service for featuring sketches done in blackface.

The streamer also axed four shows from Australian comic Chris Lilley after questions regarding some of the characters in the show came up. The streamer took down “Angry Boys,” “Summer Heights High,” “We Can Be Heroes” and “Jonah From Tonga” from its Australian and New Zealand libraries because the comic used blackface to portray some of his characters.

The streaming giant also launched the Black Lives Matter collection on the platform, where U.S. viewers can watch movies, documentaries and TV series, including Michelle Obama’s “Becoming,” “When They See Us Now,” “Moonlight,” “Dear White People,” and Spike Lee’s “Da 5 Bloods.”