New York: HBO Max has pulled “Gone with the Wind” from its library of films.
The removal of the film comes as mass protests sweep across the United States following the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who was killed while in police custody.
The 1939 film, which tells the love story of Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler during the American Civil War, is considered a cinematic classic and is one of the most popular films ever made. However, the movie is also incredibly controversial. The film’s portrayal of slavery, African Americans and the Civil War South has been received much more critically in the decades since its release.
A spokesperson for HBO Max, told CNN Business that “Gone with the Wind” based on a novel of the same name is “a product of its time and depicts some of the ethnic and racial prejudices that have, unfortunately, been commonplace in American society.”
The spokesperson added that the film will return to HBO Max “with a discussion of its historical context and a denouncement of those very depictions.”
