A&E Network is defending their forthcoming docuseries, “Generation KKK,” after Ellen Pompeo blasted them and called for a boycott.
The series follows four families: an “Imperial Wizard” who hopes to groom his teenage daughter to take his place; an Iraq war veteran and proud member of the KKK determined to raise his four-year-old son to embrace his views; a young man who sees his close friend and Klan leader as the father he never had, asked to pledge his loyalty to the KKK; and a fifth-generation Klan family struggling to keep up the legacy.
The “Grey’s Anatomy” star was just as outraged and disgusted by the series as many of us were!
https://twitter.com/EllenPompeo/status/811669655005720576
Hey I have an idea…why don't we all never watch ANYTHING on A&E again who's with me????
— Ellen Pompeo (@EllenPompeo) December 21, 2016
https://twitter.com/EllenPompeo/status/811670709323722753
So I guess A&E stands for …we will try to put Anything and Everything on tv… because we are a bunch of desperate pathetic tv execs ????????
— Ellen Pompeo (@EllenPompeo) December 21, 2016
We shouldn't be giving ignorance a platform we already did that this year and look what it got us https://t.co/kkl0bEYo2E
— Ellen Pompeo (@EllenPompeo) December 21, 2016
The timing of this show angers me the most they are capitalizing on a disgusting wave that Trump started and media is normalizing NOT OK
— Ellen Pompeo (@EllenPompeo) December 21, 2016
A&E Network came under fire for trying to normalize racism. The Anti-Defamation League stepped in to share their involvement in the docuseries.
The Anti-Defamation League worked closely with the A&E Network on its documentary series “Generation KKK,” which follows four prominent Klan families who each have a family member trying to escape the Ku Klux Klan. The series pulls back the curtain on the organization ADL has classified as “a racist, anti-Semitic movement with a commitment to extreme violence to achieve its goals of racial segregation and white supremacy.”
ADL has followed the Klan and its offshoots since the early part of the 20th century. ADL’s Center on Extremism is the foremost expert on domestic extremist and white supremacist groups.
Watch the first 7 minutes of “Generation KKK” below.
Personally, I don’t care what A&E is hoping to achieve with this docuseries. At the end of the day, they are still giving Ku Klux Klan members a platform to spread their hate on national television.