'GWTW' Pulled From HBO Max

Scene from 'Gone With The Wind'

“Gone with the Wind” was pulled from HBO Max, a sign that entertainment companies are re-examining the content they offer in the wake of nationwide protests for racial justice and against police brutality, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Considered a classic of American cinema and winner of eight competitive Academy Awards, including best picture, the 1939 film starring Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh and Hattie McDaniel tells the story of southern belle Scarlett O’Hara and her love affair with Rhett Butler. Much of the four-hour film is set on the O’Hara plantation, Tara, and in Atlanta during and after the Civil War.

HBO Max parent AT&T Inc.’s move came amid growing concerns about racial injustice following the killing of George Floyd, a black man, while being arrested by a white Minneapolis police officer.

In a statement, HBO Max said “Gone With the Wind” is a “product of its time and depicts some of the ethnic and racial prejudices that have, unfortunately, been commonplace in American society.” When the movie returns to the platform it will be “with a discussion of its historical context and a denouncement of those very depictions, but will be presented as it was originally created, because to do otherwise would be the same as claiming these prejudices never existed. If we are to create a more just, equitable and inclusive future, we must first acknowledge and understand our history.”

“Gone With the Wind,” with its portrayal of happy slaves, has long been a lightning rod and criticized for its romanticism of slavery and that era of American history. McDaniel won a best supporting actress Oscar for her role as Mammy, a house slave, becoming the first black actor to win an Academy Award.

On Monday, John Ridley, who won an Oscar for the adapted screenplay for the movie “12 Years a Slave,” a brutal look at slavery in the U.S., wrote an opinion piece in the Los Angeles Times calling for “Gone With the Wind” to be taken off HBO Max.

“It is a film that glorifies the antebellum south. It is a film that, when it is not ignoring the horrors of slavery, pauses only to perpetuate some of the most painful stereotypes of people of color.” Mr. Ridley wrote. The film, he said, perpetuates “the racism that’s causing angry and grieving Americans to take to the streets.”