HBO has finally responded to the massive outcry going on regarding its upcoming slave drama Confederate. The hour-long sci-fi drama, which has been picked up by Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and DB Weiss, drew flak due to its slavery based theme.
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The drama which is scheduled to be premiered after the Game of Thrones season 8 has been the subject of the controversy as a hashtag #NoConfederate has been created by April Reign. Reign was the activist behind 2015's #OscarsSoWhite campaign.
Reign has started the hashtag campaign in the hope of the prevention before they begin any procedure of the production. It has topped the Twitter's trending list in the United States. And, later it became the worldwide trending topic during the telecast of Game of Thrones season 7.
Following that, HBO released a statement regarding the issue. It reads below—
"We have great respect for the dialogue and concern being expressed around 'Confederate.' 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."
The series was picked by HBO on July 19. Ever since it has drawn massive outrage on various social media platforms. Defending the show, HBO programming president Casey Bloys told last week, "Everyone understands there is a high degree of getting this right. ... If you can get it right, there is real opportunity to advance the racial discussion in America."
He further continued, "If you can draw a line between what we're seeing in the country today with voter suppression, mass incarceration, lack of access to public education and healthcare and draw the line to our past and shared history, that's an important line to draw and a conversation worth having. [The producers] acknowledge this has a high degree of difficulty. It's a risk worth taking."
