HBO Yanks Bush Head 'Game of Thrones' Episode, Halts DVD Shipments

Hollywood Reporter ^ | June 15, 2012 | Lesley Goldberg

[SMGFan]

HBO is continuing to do damage control after producers confirmed that a model of President George W. Bush's severed head appeared in the season one finale of Game of Thrones. The premium cable network has pulled the 10th episode of the drama from rotation on digital platforms -- including HBO Go and iTunes -- and halted all future shipments of its best-selling Season 1 DVD set, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

[radioone]

No way would I waste my cash on a network with Bill Maher.

[Tax-chick]

One of my sons was interested in “Game of Thrones,” so we requested a disc from Netflix. Watched one episode and sent it back. This is not something I ever want to see, although the son can watch it, if he cares to, when he’s moved away from home.

[libstripper]

That guy on the production staff is also probably plan in to get rich selling all the copies of the suddenly deleted DVD he’s kept. It’s a lot like having many copes of a misprinted postage stamp that’s suddenly discovered.

[Clioman]

“It’s not a choice, it’s not a political statement. We just had to use whatever head we had around.”

Yeah, right. Replicas of Bush’s head are in everybody’s prop box... /s

[GOPJ]

Hollywood haters... Don’t give ‘em a dime.

[a fool in paradise]

We’re sorry... we got caught...

[Halls]

No, I watched it. Never would have guessed it was a GWB head fake. There were a bunch of heads. This is really stupid. To yank the sake of that episode is a bit over the top.

[Rummyfan]

I love it - this is costing HBO real money. I would cancel my subscription... if I had one!

[EmilyGeiger]

I am an avid reader....a friend suggested these books. I checked out the first one and the language and topic was foul....I didnt even finish the first chapter.

[Paleo Conservative]

Since it’s the principle of the matter (for me), I don’t care how long it was on screen. I hope this creates a major annoyance for HBO. (I don’t care how far down the totem pole the problem originated.)

What does it matter how long it was on screen. Anyone with enough technical skill to rip a DVD could extract all the still images and make them available online.

[submarinerswife]

Was this really on screen for THAT long for people to really care THIS much?

No,it wasn't. I have both seasons on DVD. I watched the episode (Sansa is forced to look at her Father and nanny's heads on spikes by King Joffrey)You wouldn't have seen at all even knowing it's there. Only by slowing it down frame by frame will you get a glimpse, maybe.

People need to get a life and get over it. This is stupid. The show is one of the very best HBO has ever done (Second only to Rome)

[Del Rapier]

It was the producers that made sure everyone knew whose head they were using,I don’t think anyone really did a “gotcha” beforehand.Why the Media so utterly hated this former President is fairly clear that they wanted everyone to know was also fairly clear.

[discostu]

Now this is just getting retarded, they’re gonna George Lucas a head that nobody freaking noticed for over a year?! That’s dumb. I might have to go buy the unmodified set just to make sure I get the real thing.

[discostu]

No, nobody even noticed until somebody paid attention to the commentary track. This whole thing is a stink over nothing.

[submarinerswife]

I hope this creates a major annoyance for HBO

Bill Maher. That's all you need to know about how HBO can shield themselves from viewers who are disgusted with some of their content.

[submarinerswife]

George R. R. Martin (the author of the books) was rabidly anti-Bush.

Typical hippie all the way down the lesbian type sandals that he wears. But he had enough talent to garner a huge fan base for the first 3 books.

[discostu]

It matters because that’s the determination of intent. If it’s just there so quick nobody notices for over a year there probably wasn’t any intent. If they focused on it long enough for everybody to figure it out when the episode first aired there’s intent. This was the former, they used heads they had in storage, happens all the time. Yeah the Bush head was probably made by a makeup guy with rude intent, but then it wound up in a closet somewhere until some director said “I need more heads”, and there it is. I think of it like the Shatner mask in Halloween, John Carpenter wasn’t sending any message, the mask was handy and with some mods gave the look they wanted.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Ok, I guess I dont really get this. Was this really on screen for THAT long for people to really care THIS much?

Oh, yes. This is far, far worse than anything that Obama has done.

There aren't enough legitimate things to be outraged about these days, you see, for the TV-addict crowd.

BEHEADED BUSH: EVOLVING 'GAME OF THRONES' EXCUSES FAIL SMELL TEST
	06/14/2012 8:04:29 PM PDT · by Eva · 26 replies Breitbart TV ^ | 61/13/12 | John Nolte The producers behind HBO's "Game of Thrones" would've been better off had they simple said what is likely the truth, that they hate George W. Bush and impaled his prosthetic head on a pole for the kind of childish shits and giggles the Secret Service might want to look into. Instead, they offer absurd explanations that, in my opinion, only prove what sniveling weasals (sic) they really are:
'Game of Thrones' apologizes for severed George Bush head (Another load of crap "apology")
	06/14/2012 5:19:36 PM PDT · by tobyhill · 10 replies ABC 30 KFSN ^ | 6/14/2012 | staff HBO and producers of "Game of Thrones" apologized Thursday for a scene that depicted former President George W. Bush's severed head on a spike. The scene first aired last year and was repeated on a DVD release in March. But in a particularly bad piece of timing for HBO, stories about it spread online this week, when the network premiered a documentary on Bush's father, former President George H.W. Bush. Bush's head was one of several on spikes in a scene where King Joffrey reveals to his fiancé the severed head of her father, who he had judged disloyal. The...
HBO’s 'Game of Thrones' parades President George W. Bush’s decapitated head on a stick
	06/14/2012 9:30:41 AM PDT · by antidemoncrat · 23 replies Fox News ^ | 6/24/21 HBO did not respond to our request for comment, but as outrage mounted Wednesday, they released a statement saying they were "deeply dismayed to see this and find it unacceptable, disrespectful and in very bad taste." HBO also said the scene would be removed from future DVD pressings.
HBO apologizes for putting George W. Bush's head on stake in 'Game of Thrones'
	06/14/2012 8:38:40 AM PDT · by pabianice · 29 replies NY Post ^ | 6/14/12 LOS ANGELES -- HBO has apologized for using a model head of former President George W. Bush in a grisly decapitation scene for its hit drama "Game of Thrones." The tenth episode of the first season of "Game of Thrones," now out on DVD, features the younger Bush's head on a stake. Commentary on the DVD notes that his head appears in a "couple of beheading scenes." The show creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss stated that George W. Bush's was used as physical inspiration to create a head for a scene in which King Joffrey shows Sansa Stark her...
HBO Apologizes for Bush Head in ‘Game of Thrones’ DVD
	06/14/2012 6:38:18 AM PDT · by Rummyfan · 41 replies NY Times ^ | 14 June 2012 | David Itzkoff HBO has apologized for a scene in its hit fantasy series “Game of Thrones” that showed the decapitated head of former President George W. Bush on a pike and said the scene will be removed from future DVD releases, the Web site io9.com reported. ... “The last head on the left is George Bush,” the producers say in the audio commentary. “George Bush’s head appears in a couple beheading scenes. It’s not a choice, it’s not a political statement. It’s just, we had to use what heads we had around.”
Video: The obligatory “‘Game of Thrones’ puts George W. Bush’s head on a pike” post
	06/14/2012 6:29:46 AM PDT · by SeekAndFind · 7 replies Hotair ^ | 06/14/2012 | AllahPundit Via Mediaite. The producers say it’s not political and that they used him just because they happened to have a spare Bush head lying around (what?), but Gothamist wants so badly to believe that it's a Gesture Of Defiance towards our deposed Hitler that I almost hope for their sake that it's deliberate.The perfunctory denial: HBO responded to CBSNewYork.comÂ’s request for comment on Wednesday night, offering the following statement from Benioff and Weiss:“What happened was this: we use a lot of prosthetic body parts on the show: heads, arms, etc. We canÂ’t afford to have these all made from scratch,...
Fury as HBO's Game of Thrones shows President George W. Bush's decapitated head impaled on a STAKE
	06/13/2012 8:37:00 PM PDT · by Justaham · 42 replies dailymail.co.uk/ ^ | 6/13/12 | Emily Anne Epstein Politicians are calling for a boycott of HBO's fantasy series Game of Thrones after the creator's 'despicable' decision to include former President George W. Bush's severed head in several scenes. In the tenth episode of the first season, Mr Bush's decapitated head is seen impaled on a wooden spike, covered in filthy long hair and slathered in dirt. Show creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, who noted the appearance in the series' DVD commentary, insist it wasn't a political statement - just a prop. But the image has provoked outrage among some Republican politicians.
Fury as HBO's Game of Thrones shows President George W. Bush's decapitated head impaled on a STAKE
	06/13/2012 4:05:48 PM PDT · by Third Person · 76 replies Daily Mail UK ^ | June 13, 2012 | Emily Ann Epstein Politicians are calling for a boycott of HBO's fantasy series Game of Thrones because of the creator's 'despicable' decision to include former President George W. Bush's severed head in several scenes. In the tenth episode of the first season, Mr Bush's decapitated head is barely recognizable impaled on a wooden spike, covered in filthy long hair and slathered in dirt. But show creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, who noted the appearance in the series' DVD commentary, insist it wasn't a political statement - just a prop. The finale of the first season of Game of Thrones, Fire and Blood,...

[GOPJ]

Yeah it was. If Jesse Jackson's head had been used, the friggin' liberals at HBO would be fired. Hollywood movies and TV shows function as hate advertisements against us and our children. Hollywood hates conservatives. They hate our parents, our values our churches. But they also want our money - and that's why they're pulling this DVD - liberal elite haters realized they've gone too far...

Remember their reaction to a 'bulls-eye' on a Palin map? Or the smallest of slights to a gay person? But for us? The most extreme hate is always right below the surface...

[Tax-chick]

I haven’t read anything by the author. Thanks for the recommendation *not to* - saves me returning whatever it was to the library.