WarnerMedia’s entertainment and direct-to-consumer chairman Bob Greenblatt has spoken about the recent decision to pull “Gone With the Wind” temporarily from HBO Max.
Speaking on Thursday in an interview on Sirius XM with Jess Cagle, he dubs the temporarily pulling a “no-brainer” and is adamant it will be restored because “we can’t censor these films”. Greenblatt goes on to say:
“It was sort of a no brainer, I mean, we have the best of intentions obviously here. I don’t regret taking it down for a second. I only wish we had put it up in the first place with the disclaimer. And we just didn’t do that.”
Before now the film would have aired on a linear network like Turner Classic Movies where a disclaimer is unnecessary as the films shown are normally framed in the proper context. He explains:
“[TCM] talked about some of the racial stereotypes and some of issues with how the Civil War is portrayed, which is much more positive than focusing on slavery the darker side of that issue. If it was on the linear network, it wouldn’t need it [a disclaimer] because they’re often talking about these issues. We failed to put the disclaimer in there, which sets up the issue, basically the issues that this movie really brings up.
So, we took it off and we’re going to bring it back with a proper context, and it’s what we should have done. We really do want to put the right context around it. We shouldn’t deny that [the racist depictions] exist, we should show them to people, but also in the right context. And, hopefully shed some light on these issues, which you know, affected Hollywood. The last century in Hollywood, there are many darker moments on film that we need to talk about.”
As a result, when the film returns it will not only have a disclaimer attached but will be accompanied by footage from an hour-long panel discussion held at the 2019 edition of TCM’s annual festival in LA, with academics, writers and producers assessing the film’s legacy.
Source: The Wrap
