HBO Max Pulls ‘Gone with the Wind’, But the Film Will Return with a Disclaimer

By Claire Spellberg @c_spellberg
Published June 10, 2020, 9:01 a.m. ET

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HBO Max has temporarily removed Gone with the Wind from its platform in the wake of renewed criticism of the film’s positive view of slavery. When Gone with the Wind returns to the new streaming service, it will feature a disclaimer about “its historical context and a denouncement of those very depictions” of Black people in the Civil War-era South, an HBO spokesperson said in a statement.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, HBO’s decision to pull Gone with the Wind came late Tuesday, a few days after 12 Years a Slave screenwriter John Ridley published a Los Angeles Times op-ed calling for HBO to remove the film from its platform. Ridley slammed the 1940 Best Picture winner for “glorif[ying] the antebellum south” with its unrealistic depiction of slavery and Black people. “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 wrote.

As protests over police brutality and George Floyd’s death continue to sweep the globe, HBO Max has finally heeded that advice. On Tuesday night, a spokesperson told THR that Gone with the Wind has been temporarily removed and will return with a necessary disclaimer about its racist messaging.

“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,” reads the statement. “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.”

HBO’s statement adds that apart from the disclaimer, Gone with the Wind “will be presented as it was originally created” in 1939. “To do otherwise would be the same as claiming these prejudices never existed,” says the statement. “If we are to create a more just, equitable and inclusive future, we must first acknowledge and understand our history.”

Where to stream Gone with the Wind