'Hitler' Exec Producer Fired Over Remarks (Comparing Hitler To Bush)

Zap2It News Daily ^ | April 10, 2003

[PJ-Comix]

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - The executive producer of a CBS miniseries about Adolf Hitler's rise to power has been fired after giving an interview in which he compared the current mood of Americans to that of the Germans who helped Hitler rise to power.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Gernon was fired Sunday (April 6) from Alliance Atlantis, the production company making "Hitler: The Rise of Evil" for CBS. He had worked there 11 years and was head of the firm's long-form programming division.

Neither Gernon nor Alliance Atlantis is commenting on the matter.

"Hitler" has caused controversy ever since CBS announced its intentions last summer. In an interview with TV Guide about the four-hour film, scheduled for May, Gernon compares many Americans' acceptance of a war in Iraq to the fearful climate in post-World War I Germany, of which Hitler took advantage to become its ruler.

"It basically boils down to an entire nation gripped by fear, who ultimately chose to give up their civil rights and plunged the whole nation into war," Gernon said in the interview. "I can't think of a better time to examine this history than now."

Gernon's remarks reportedly didn't go over well at CBS, which has tried very hard to frame "Hitler" as a historical piece that in no way sensationalizes or offers excuses for Hitler's actions.

Alliance Atlantis has become one of the leading producers of TV movies in recent years. The company has made "The Matthew Shepard Story," "Joan of Arc," and "Me and My Shadows: Life with Judy Garland." Gernon was an executive producer of all three. He also directed "Hell on Heels: The Battle of Mary Kay," which aired on CBS earlier this season.

[PJ-Comix]

Yeah, the Executive Producer was fired but it looks like the miniseries comparing Hitler to Bush will still be airing.

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[Sir Gawain]

Who watches CBS?

[what's up]

Cool.

[try phecta tom]

We may have to start a "loser list", starting with the Dipsy Chips and down the line, of people losing $$$$ by being left losers

[JennysCool]

The company has made "The Matthew Shepard Story," "Joan of Arc," and "Me and My Shadows: Life with Judy Garland."

No agenda here. Move along, now.

[Walkingfeather]

GEEZ did you read those titles.... Sounds like they are all..." Disco dancin',Barbara Streisand ticket holding, Oscar Wild Reading , friends of dorthy"

[sharktrager]

The miniseries doesn't compare hitler to bush.

[RooRoobird14]

The CBS suits probably fired him as a publicity stunt when they realized nobody would be watching the show.

Just watch: they'll hire the Clymer back in about two weeks.

[justshutupandtakeit]

Oscar Wilde could at least write.

[Feiny]

Hey Gernon...we are not a nation in FEAR....we are PISSED OFF!

[Mister Baredog]

"It basically boils down to an entire nation gripped by fear, who ultimately chose to give up their civil rights and plunged the whole nation into war," Gernon said in the interview.

"I can't think of a better time to examine this history than now."

GRIPPED BY ANGER, not fear moron.

This drivel is "IDIOTSPEAK", I am amazed that CBS cared much, I guess they've been watching what happened to the Ditsy Hicks.

[wtc911]

Alliance Atlantis is a Canadian company.

[INSENSITIVE GUY]

How absurd,what would a CBS commie know about anything!

[Servant of the Nine]

Yeah, the Executive Producer was fired but it looks like the miniseries comparing Hitler to Bush will still be airing.

The miniseries does not compare Bush to Hitler. That was done by the bigmouth producer. The Miniseries ends in 1945.

So9

[tpaine]

"Who watches CBS?"


I will, if its a decent historical portrayal of an - "entire nation gripped by fear, who ultimately chose to give up their civil rights and plunged the whole nation into war".

Those who refuse to learn from history are doomed to stupidity. ;)

[demnomo]

Yeah, the Executive Producer was fired but it looks like the miniseries comparing Hitler to Bush will still be airing.

I'm not watching it. I've already written CBS an email and have spoken on the telephone with someone about the remarks. I asked if President Bush was the next Hitler and this mini series was a warning to Americans, why haven't Martin Sheen, Michael Moore, Natalie Mains, and most of the entertainment types been rounded up by Homeland Security and put into concentration camps?

I asked if CBS had credible proof that President Bush planned on gassing millions of people like the Jews or even the Muslims for that matter via genocide?

I also asked where was the Hitler, er, Bush Youth organizations? (I said the the Boy Scouts of America doesn't count as a Bush Youth group since the BSA have been around even when Democratic Presidential icons like Roosevelt, Kennedy and Clinton were writing Eagle Scouts congratulatory letters.)

I received a canned email response, but the live person on the other end of the telephone conversation told me that CBS was not pleased with the comments likening Bush to Hitler. That comparison was "incorrect" according to the spokesperson. The CBS person said that the network had been getting a lot of negative feed back regarding the TV Guide interview. Well, duh.

[Billthedrill]

I can hear the bleating about "McCarthyism" beginning already...

[Skeptical constituent]

The list keeps growing. We are winning. So many lefty loonies are being jettisoned. Sentiment is swinging like a pendulum.

[coloradan]

If one wishes to speak of the control the leader had over the masses, look to the hoardes of teen girls dizzy with rapture upon meeting Hitler - and look at Clinton's reaction to teenage girl Democrats. Bush, unlike Hitler and Clinton, doesn't whip up such strong emotions in throngs of adolescents (and, those with the intellectual development of adolescents).