The creators of the HBO “Game of Thrones” television series have set their sights on an alternative history series that focuses on what would have happened if the Confederacy were allowed to secede. The series has caused outrage from social justice activists.
According to the HBO Medium page, the new show “Confederate,” created by showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, will detail events leading up to what is called the “Third American Civil War.” In the show, the writers explore what an America in which “slavery remains legal and has evolved into a modern institution" would look like.
Given the show explores a possibility of modern slavery, many on the internet were outraged over mere idea of the show, with one user calling the “VERY premise” of the show “DISGUSTING”:
I don't care if it is done tastefully as possible.
— Unfazed (@unfazed_post) July 19, 2017
The VERY premise is DISGUSTING.
Especially now.
Who are you pandering to?
Another user remarked the show is “profoundly tone deaf,” since it involves the concept of slavery:
Two white guys making a show where black slavery features prominently. This is profoundly tone deaf.
— Logan Rapp (@Loganchance) July 19, 2017
Another user chimed in saying since Weiss and Benioff are white, they might not be able to “understand and respect black POV”:
The point isn't endorsing, it's understanding and respecting. I'm not confident they will understand and respect black POV on confed.
— Citizen Chris (@csilverandgold) July 19, 2017
One user pointed out the show will, in fact, have black writers, but that the idea is still “messy”:
They have two black writers joining but Benioff and Weiss are the exec producers. Also the idea is messy whoever writes it. No thanks.
— Ira Madison III (@ira) July 19, 2017
Disability rights journalist David M. Perry declared “nobody” on Twitter thinks the show is a good idea:
Confidential to HBO: Nobody on here thinks #Confederate is a good idea.
— David M. Perry (@Lollardfish) July 19, 2017
The idea of the show sparked multiple people to object by asking what the response would be if someone proposed the idea of a show based on the Germans winning World War II:
The better analogy would be like... if you're making a Holocaust film, I wanna know where the Jews are on the creative team, you know?
— Citizen Chris (@csilverandgold) July 19, 2017
This is the level of censorship the progressive left demands from entertainment media. pic.twitter.com/DMwsJytznW
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) July 21, 2017
However, there is already a show exploring an alternative history of the Germans winning World War II, including a modern-day Holocaust. “The Man in the High Castle” is a hit Amazon series adapted from a book of the same title that explores what the world would look like if the Axis powers had won the war.
In an interview with Vulture, Benioff and Weiss said they saw the criticism coming.
Benioff said, “We knew it would be, and now it’s come true. It’s obviously creating a lot of controversy before anything’s happened just on the basis of a press release, and that will only continue as we get closer.”
He later said, “But this points out — we haven’t written any scripts yet. We don’t have an outline yet. We don’t even have character names. So, everything is brand-new and nothing’s been written. I guess that’s what was a little bit surprising about some of the outrage. It’s just a little premature. You know, we might f**k it up. But we haven’t yet.”
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