Online streaming service HBO Max has announced that it has temporarily removed the 1939 classic, ‘Gone With the Wind’ over racist depictions in the film. This move comes in wake of widespread protests following the killing of African American George Floyd by the Minneapolis police. The Black Lives Matter movement has given rise to debates over racist content in film and television. 

A spokesperson from HBO Max told CNN Business, “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… 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 film, considered by many as a cinematic classic, tells the story of Scarlett O’Hara (Vivien Leigh) and Rhett Butler (Clark Gable) during the American Civil War. It is being criticized for romanticizing slavery without revealing its actual horrors. Slaves are shown extremely loyal to their owners while being happy and content under them.

Oscar winning screenwriter John Ridley had earlier written an op-ed to Los Angeles Times asking HBO to remove the film from its streaming service. He said, “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.” 

He further added, “”Let me be real clear: I don’t believe in censorship. I would just ask, after a respectful amount of time has passed, that the film be re-introduced to the HBO Max platform along with other films that give a more broad-based and complete picture of what slavery and the Confederacy truly were.”