Almost three years ago, the social justice warrior set got their collective panties in a bunch because HBO announced production of a science fiction drama in which the South won the American Civil War.
“Confederate,” the alternate history brainchild of Game of Thrones creators Dan Weiss and David Benioff (and which has — had — a black husband and wife producer team) was referred to as “white nonsense” by the Daily Beast, and “slavery fan fiction” by the New York Times. NPR noted how social media “snarked at a pair of white, male producers […] tackling such an incendiary topic.”
The creator of the hashtag “OscarsSoWhite” had tweeted the following:
This Sunday at 9pm ET, during @GameOfThrones, we ask you to stand with us. We want to send a message to @hbo using hashtag #NoConfederate.
— April (@ReignOfApril) July 28, 2017
Aggrieved academics chimed in too.
Morehouse College’s David Dennis Jr. said “The show has rightfully come under fire for continuing a tradition of white people only being able to find stories about black people if they’re framed by the institution of slavery, oppression and trauma.” (So Jezebel’s Kara Brown has a point?)
Molefi Asante, the chair of the Department of Africology and African American studies at Temple University advocated banning the show because it was “an abuse of artistic license”: The show is “an attempt to appeal to the masses of people who voted for [Donald] Trump.”
Asante’s colleague Nyasha Junior called the show a “backlash to the Obama presidency.”
Kelley Fanto Deetz and Al Brophy of Randolph College and the University of Alabama respectively thought Americans are just too dumb to get the show: “While artists should be allowed to tell any story as they please, the danger here stems from an uneducated public and a very real legacy of institutionalized racism.”
The aforementioned black producers noted that “Confederate” would make relevant links to issues which (allegedly) currently plague American society (mass incarceration, over-policing, disenfranchisement), which anyone with half a cerebrum could have figured out. It was being developed by HBO, for heaven’s sake. (Never let it be said that SJWs don’t ultimately turn on themselves.)
Alas, the haters gotten their wish. It appears “Confederate” won’t be getting made.
[“Confederate”] is likely dead in the water at HBO now that showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have signed a $200 million deal with Netflix.
“Confederate” was initially expected to launch in 2018 or 2019, after Benioff and Weiss were done with “Game of Thrones.” However, the project was shelved and this new deal between Benioff, Weiss and Netflix likely wipes it off the books completely.
“I think anything they have with us would likely not go forward,” HBO’s president of programming, Casey Bloys, told entertainment news website Deadline in July, hinting that any projects the showrunners had with HBO would be canceled if they signed with another network. …
The pair are currently writing and producing a trilogy of “Star Wars” films for Disney. The first film in that series is due in theaters in 2022.
The $200 million multiyear film and TV deal was announced Wednesday and means Weiss and Benioff will depart HBO to create and develop new projects for Netflix.
Those in need of constant anti-Trump/anti-conservative/anti-patriarchy/anti-you-name-it messages can turn to CBS All Access next week for the premiere of “Star Trek: Picard.” In a moment of stunning honesty and bravery (/sarcasm), star Patrick Stewart said the show is a response to the “f***ed” governments of the US and UK under Donald Trump and Boris Johnson.
MORE: HBO’s ‘Confederate’ is ‘clueless white privilege’
MORE: Americans are too stupid to handle HBO series ‘Confederate’
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