As ‘Game of Thrones’ airs, activists use #NoConfederate to protest creators’ other show
As the third episode of the seventh season of the HBO fantasy series hit “Game of Thrones” aired Sunday at 9 p.m. Eastern time, a flood of social media activists took to Twitter using the hashtag #NoConfederate.
Their aim was to disrupt other social media users, who typically tweet freely about the show as it airs, and pressure HBO to cancel a show that hasn’t even aired yet.
“Game of Thrones” showrunners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss ignited heated debate and controversy on July 19 when HBO announced that it was developing a new series with the two called “Confederate” that would take place in an alternate historical time line in which the Confederacy successfully seceded from the U.S. in the Civil War, “giving rise to a nation in which slavery remains legal and has evolved into a modern institution.”
Critics argued that Benioff and Weiss, who are both white, were exploiting the historical horrors of slavery for entertainment, and pointed to criticisms leveled at “Game of Thrones” over diversity problems and problematic depictions of racism and sex.
In response, Benioff and Weiss pointed out that two of the show’s other executive producers are black, assured fans that no scripts had been written yet and urged people to give them a chance.
“We plan, all of us I think, to approach “Confederate” in a much different spirit, by necessity, than we would approach a show named “Game of Thrones,” Weiss told Vulture.
Still, organizers behind the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag that criticized Hollywood for a lack of diversity in awards shows planned a new protest for Sunday night, using the hashtag #NoConfederate to urge HBO to cancel the show. Within the first half hour of the new “Game of Thrones” episode airing, #NoConfederate was trending on Twitter in the U.S.
One of the protests’ organizers, April Reign, told the Los Angeles Times that “We want to show HBO the power of social media of those who are against this show, and demonstrate that there is a unified voice against ‘Confederate.’ Our objective is for HBO to cancel this idea and spend no more money on it.”
However, Reign also said the protest is not calling for a boycott of HBO as a network.
This story was originally published July 30, 2017 at 10:16 PM with the headline "As ‘Game of Thrones’ airs, activists use #NoConfederate to protest creators’ other show."