The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
HBO RESPONDS TO #NOCONFEDERATE UPROAR
HBO wants viewers to wait and see its planned new series “Confederate” before rendering verdicts, but critics are demanding it never make it to the screen. The “alt-history” show, set in some alternate universe where the South successfully secedes from the Union and slavery remains in place, comes from “Game of Thrones” creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss and writer-producers Nichelle Tramble Spellman and Malcolm Spellman.
Critics flooded Twitter during the airing of “Game of Thrones” on Sunday night until #NoConfederate was a top trending topic.
“We have great respect for the dialogue and concern being expressed around Confederate,” the network responded in a statement. “We have faith that Nichelle, Dan, David, and Malcolm will approach the subject with care and sensitivity. The project is currently in its infancy so we hope that people will reserve judgment until there is something to see.”
There was little reservation in judgments issued 140 characters at a time Sunday night.
“We don’t want to see WHAT IF slavery shows, only facts,” posted lifestyle blogger Lela Victoria. “Stop traumatizing black Americans.”
The official Twitter feed of the Women’s March on Washington was among the high-profile accounts getting on board.
“We saw what happened when we demanded advertisers #DropOReilly,” read its post, referring to a demand Fox News part ways with former host Bill O’Reilly amid sexual harassment allegations; he was fired in April. “Now it’s time to use our collective voice to say #NoConfederate.”
The actual Civil War ended in 1865, leaving more than 600,000 Union and Rebel troops dead. See the AJC’s interactive project, War In Our Backyards, for a comprehensive online presentation (battleofatlanta.myajc.com).
In the HBO’s version of things, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee and Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant apparently never meet up at Appomattox Court House. Instead, the drama assumes the USA and CSA unpeacefully coexist, like North Korea and South Korea or East/West Berlin, with the Mason-Dixon Line serving as a DMZ. The proposed show doesn’t appear on HBO’s site and its imdb page is populated only with sparse (and not quite accurate) information: “Set in an alternate reality in which South America successfully seceded from the Union and the institution of slavery thrives,” it reads, presumably meaning the South as in Richmond, not South America.
Deadline reported a more complete description recently: “The story follows a broad swath of characters … freedom fighters, slave hunters, politicians, abolitionists, journalists, the executives of a slave-holding conglomerate and the families of people in their thrall.”
Critics flooded Twitter during the airing of ‘Game of Thrones’ on Sunday night.