HBO: We Screwed Up ‘Confederate’ Press Release (Not The Show Itself)
Image by Getty Images
On Tuesday, HBO’s CEO Richard Plepler told Vanity Fair that they “screwed up” by introducing Game of Thrones creators D.B. Weiss and David Benioff’s project for the network, “Confederate,” in a short press release this summer.
“Where we screwed up,” he admitted, “is we tried to announce a complicated subject in a press release.” Though later interviews sought to describe the team’s thought process, said Plepler, he believed that the backlash against the initial release had already done its damage.
Indeed, a one page press release is insufficient to detail the complexities of a show about an alternative world where the Confederacy won the civil war and slavery continued. But however the show is framed, the basic issue remains: by having two white, Jewish men create an alternate timeline where slavery has run amok, those creators ignore the glorified legacy of the Confederacy in parts of America as well as the modern-day incarnation of slavery — prison.
Maybe he and the creators believe this will offer a new perspective on the legacy of the Confederacy, but few would say a bunch of white guys are the ones who should be doing that — and for entertainment’s sake, no less. Rather than highlight the inherent injustices of today, the premise of “Confederate” only muddles those issues — and no explanation can resolve that.
Steven Davidson is an editorial fellow at the Forward.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
