HBO Max removes Gone With the Wind over racist depictions in the film

The 1939 film will return to the platform with a denouncement of its racist portrayals
Turner Classic
Kimberley Bond10 June 2020

American streaming service HBO Max has temporarily removed Gone With the Wind from its library.

The on-demand platform, which was launched in the States in May, has decided to remove the 1939 classic over its racist depictions of slavery and black people.

“‘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,” a spokesperson for HBO Max told Variety. “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.”

Gone With the Wind will eventually return to the platform with a discussion around the context of the film, and a criticism of racist portrayal of characters.

Hattie McDaniel was the first Black person to win an Oscar
AP

“These depictions are certainly counter to WarnerMedia’s values, so when we return the film to HBO Max, it will return 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,” the spokesperson added.

“If we are to create a more just, equitable and inclusive future, we must first acknowledge and understand our history.”

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The 1939 film, starring Vivienne Leigh, Clark Gable, Hattie McDaniel and Olivia de Havilland, follows the love story of Scarlett O’Hara (Leigh), the daughter of a plantation owner, and Rhett Butler (Gable) a well-to-do Southern aristocrat.

Gone With the Wind won eight Academy Awards, including a Best Supporting Actress statuette for McDaniel, making her the first black person to win an Oscar.

While the classic is considered one of the greatest pieces of cinema of all time, many have been highly critical of its racist portrayals, with 12 Years a Slave screenwriter John Ridley recently calling for the film to be taken down as it enforces racial stereotypes and pays reverence to the antebellum South.

HBO Max’s decision comes after the death of unarmed Black man George Floyd, who was killed in custody after a police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

Floyd’s death has sparked global outrage, with protests for the Black Lives Matter movement taking place in all 50 American states and across the world.

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