HBO Max Restores 'Gone With The Wind,' But With Disclaimer
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – After pulling the controversial movie over its racist historical depictions, HBO Max Wednesday restored "Gone with the Wind" to its streaming platform, but with caveats.
The 1939 film now includes a disclaimer that reads that the film "denies the horrors of slavery," according to "Entertainment Tonight."
It also includes two additional videos. The first is an introduction to the movie, while the second is a panel discussion about its troubling legacy.
The introductory video features University of Chicago Professor Jacqueline Stewart, who explains that the film should be "viewed in its original form, contextualized and discussed," according to ET.
The panel discussion video, titled "The Complicated Legacy of Gone With the Wind," was taped during the April 2019 TCM Classic Film Festival, ET reports.
HBO Max pulled the movie from its streaming platform earlier this month.
In a statement at the time, a spokesperson for HBO Max wrote, ""These racist depictions were wrong then and are wrong today, and we felt that to keep this title up without an explanation and a denouncement of those depictions would be irresponsible."
The George Floyd protests and the ensuing conversation regarding racial injustice in the United States have sparked a reckoning of sorts for the entertainment industry, forcing it to reexamine how it has mishandled issues of race.
On Tuesday, talk show host Jimmy Kimmel apologized for recently surfaced comedy sketches from the 1990s in which he dressed up in blackface.
This week, NBC pulled four episodes of Tina Fey's popular comedy "30 Rock" from several streaming platforms because they contained blackface.
Popular country music band Lady Antebellum also announced it was dropping the "Antebellum" from its name due to the word's connotation to the slavery era.
