HBO's Controversial 'Confederate' Series Loses the Battle
As if Confederate flags and monuments weren’t egregious enough, in 2017, HBO greenlit an entire series called "Confederate." Executive produced by the team behind “Game of Thrones,” it would depict the fictional Third American Civil War and a country “where the southern states have successfully seceded from the Union, giving rise to a nation in which slavery remains legal and has evolved into a modern institution,” according to a 2017 announcement. In response, the hashtag #NoConfederate rose up as a digital rallying cry against the idea.
Folks can now exhale because HBO has decided not to produce the show, TV Line reported on January 15. The reported reason is that executive producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, both of whom are White men, are consumed with the demands of their nine-figure overall deal with Netflix, leaving no time to create a sprawling one-hour series in which the South rewrites history.
Twitter, not surprisingly, is taking its share of credit for the demise of "Confederate":
Shout out to all of the Black women that kept a FOOT on this. @ReignOfApril @FilmFatale_NYC and others! #NoConfederate https://t.co/WvqzEyB3tH
— Jason (One Piece fan) (@EscaflowneClown) January 15, 2020
Not just me. @ShanelleLittle @iamlaurenp @FilmFatale_NYC and I worked together on the #NoConfederate campaign. https://t.co/WCt3HPNY9D pic.twitter.com/vc6D4b4VsN
— April (@ReignOfApril) January 15, 2020
First time in history the same idea was burned to the ground twice. We gave em hell, 54th! #NoConfederate ?️ https://t.co/IVfVDANHrV
— Torraine Walker (@TorraineWalker) January 16, 2020
Best Hollywood news I’ve heard all week: #Confederate slavery drama series is axed by HBO.
— Nancy Wang Yuen (@nancywyuen) January 15, 2020
H/t @DarkMattersProj https://t.co/xyK7bje52l