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UPDATE 8:30 PM: The controversy over the use of a prosthetic George W. Bush head as a prop in beheading scenes on the hit HBO fantasy series Game Of Thrones led to both HBO and the series creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss issuing apologies tonight, following criticism by Republican leaders. It is unclear whether the image would be edited out of future GOT rebroadcasts on HBO and on-demand but that appears likely.
HBO: We were deeply dismayed to see this and find it unacceptable, disrespectful and in very bad taste. We made this clear to the executive producers of the series who apologized immediately for this inadvertent careless mistake. We are sorry this happened and will have it removed from any future DVD production.
David Benioff and D.B. Weiss: We use a lot of prosthetic body parts on the show: heads, arms, etc. We can’t afford to have these all made from scratch, especially in scenes where we need a lot of them, so we rent them in bulk. After the scene was already shot, someone pointed out that one of the heads looked like George W. Bush.
In the DVD commentary, we mentioned this, though we should not have. We meant no disrespect to the former President and apologize if anything we said or did suggested otherwise.
PREVIOUS 5:30 PM: In a classic case of “What were they thinking?!,” scenes from the first season of HBO’s fantasy series Game Of Thrones featured the decapitated head of former President George W. Bush. The inappropriate prop use would’ve likely gone unnoticed if not for the series creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, who drew attention to it on the Game Of Thrones Season One DVD boxed set when commenting on a scene from Episode 10 where the Bush head in a filthy long wig and covered with mud is one of several positioned on spikes when King Joffrey (Jack Gleason) takes Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) to show her the severed head of her father. “The last head on the left is George Bush,” the two say. “George Bush’s head appears in a couple of beheading scenes. It’s not a choice, it’s not a political statement. We just had to use whatever heads we had lying around…”
RELATED: Edited George W. Bush Head On ‘Game of Thrones’
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Wave bye-bye to half your audience. I tune in to GOT to forget about politics, not to be reminded of Hollywood’s college sophomore marxism.
Yeah, half the audience of GOT is conservative. Of course. It’s not like the majority of conservs have a 24-hour news channel that they watch all day.
Its as if the majority of people in this comment section do not understand how films and television shows are made. There are entire prop houses whose sole purpose is to rent out props to various films and television shows – including heads!
And not only that, the episode is well over a year old and the DVD set which this commentary appears on has been out since March. This is a non-news story. Get over it.
I unfortunately bought the BluRay the day of release.
Sure $29 is more than I’m willing to pay, but I did buy all the books used.
Instead of selling the used disc’s, I been renting to my liberal friends for a buck a day.
So far, over $50 dollars has gone to the Republican party unbeknownst to my koolaide drinking friends.
So far 12 families have enjoyed the series and only $30 has gone to the leftwing Hollyweird campaign chest.
Figure by the time the second season hits the stores, loss of sales should even the score!
Hmmm, buy the second season used and the wrath of the Anti-Hollyweird might get noticed!
After stripping the non-english audio, and keeping the directors comments (with both Subs), the 5 disc set comes in at 105 GB. Encoded at the highest settings to mkv, even with the 36 GB of extras, I feel my old 1TB portable HDD will be making the rounds for the non BluRay owners.
Of course, it will come with a copy of the used BluRay to make it Feeeel Reeeal.
Don’t lower yourself to the marxist level, hit the real God they pray to, MONEY!
Vote with your wallet!
That’s right… Half the audience. It’s on at 9pm and “half the audience” is already in their Golden Corral early bird special food coma.
Ahhhhh …. no.
LOL
I will call your BS. Hillbillies living in the south will stop watching their favorite show because of this? Get a brain.
“Hillbillies in the South”of which you stereotypically refer to, probably don’t have premium channels to begin with…idiot.
keep smokin your California “medicene” tim
I find it impossible to believe half (or even 20%) of Game of Thrones audience are card carrying, boycotting type conservatives.
Yeah, not even close to 20%. And also: what percentage of GoT fans are even going to hear about this story? Far less than conservative internet trolls would ever imagine.
So how many of you have even read the books? Very few I am sure and most of the people who fund most of these series are in fly over country and not in the Liberal bastions like NYC, and California. Keep laughing at your audiance and watch the numbers drop.
GoT fans don’t have to hear about it. If they are fans, the probability that they saw it is rather high.
They should be ashamed of themselves. Their “we didn’t realize it until after the scene was shot” denial is pathetic
It’s fair to assume you’ve never been on a set using thousands of prosthetics… the most likely scenario is one of the props guys thought it was funny to stick it in there as an on-set joke amongst crew members. It’s also plausible that since they had many, many, many heads that it just so happened that one ended up where it did. The fact that it’s dressed in wig and mud and other filth and facing away from the camera should be evidence enough that the producers didn’t villainously collude to make a political statement about someone who’s been out of office for four years now. I highly doubt anyone went out of their way to rent a GW head just to dishonor the former president.
Are you actually buying what you’re shoveling? Don’t crack your back bending over backwards to defend the typical sleazy actions of the liberal establishment.
I go with this comment.
Prop guy bored
he says watch this just to see if anyone cathes it.
I’m a Texas Republican and I think it’s funny.
Not respectful but funny
agree with crown1013. it’s so HO HUM when people overgeneralize and start stereotyping with ‘freaking liberals’ and ‘stinking conservatives’.
can’t something just be FUNNY anymore without killing it with political BS?
get a life, people. you seriously are pathetic
You watch Game of Thrones to forget about politics? Have you ever actually seen Game of Thrones?
If you’re watching GOT to forget about politics, you’re missing the entire plot of the show, right down to the title.
For using a rubber head? Awwww, poor wittle you.
A prop you wouldn’t have even known was there is now “marxism”….
Riiight. Why are wingnuts so moronic?
And what would your reaction be if heads were used of certain other presidents we could name?
@Griz,
“And what would your reaction be if heads were used of certain other presidents we could name?”
The same one I have regarding this one: Who cares?
I love the way you righties are always cooking up straw man double-standards so you can feel more oppressed. This is a non-story in every sense of the word. If it was meant as some brain-dead political stunt, they probably wouldn’t have put a wig on it and obscured the face with mud.
Grow up, wing nuts. Everything’s not a liberal conspiracy.
Amen and pass the pinot. Whaa, whoa, effn whoa. I can’t tell you how much I laughed at your response to grid. Thanks and have a really nice day.
Elmore they watch too much Fox News and the indoctrination that tells them of the so called left wing “conspiracy” every chance they get. They are not aware that this is non issue because they are told it is a big issue by their media outlets. It’s the prop house that did this not the producers. It was not in good taste with poor judgment by the Prop house to put the production company in this position let a lone make a mask of the former President. Very Poor taste doesn’t make a conspiracy!!
Clinton? Reagan? Carter? It’d be hilarious. It wouldn’t make as much sense for the current occupant, because he’s not a white guy, and you wouldn’t be able to see the defining feature (those ears) under the wig. But it’d still be pretty funny if they hid such a thing on set. That’s the difference between left and right on this stuff: conservatives worship their Glorious Leaders. Liberals pick theirs apart, down to taking the piss out of them on camera.
You watch Game of Thrones to get away from POLITICS ?? Face palm.
Someone missed the entire plot of Game of Thrones… stick to Sponge Bob if you want to forget politics.
Mature.
I’m with you. The dude’s are taking risks by entertaining themselves with self righteous jokes than focusing on their audience who buys the products that pay for their hypocrite lifestyles. The need to stick to what they’re good at, because comedy isn’t it!
They just gained me as a new veiwer.
Yeah, go fester in a dark corner somewhere.
Has anyone noticed that Dany’s left nipple looks like Grover Clevland Alexander but the right one is more Theodore Roosevelt?
Yeah, this was trashy and classless. Of course the EP’s knew it and supported it and they are only sorry because they got publicly spanked. I’m already half way out the door with GOT – the first part of the season bored me to tears. The books are equally boring and depressing. Thanks for the push.
Drama queen
It’s great that George Bush’s head is there, now put Obama’s Clinton’s Bush the 1st, Carter, and everyone else in between there! Emphasis on Obama’s head though.
I’m glad that it wasn’t Obama’s head, then we would have had a real firestorm for some reason!
Sure it’s not political
Stupid, stupid. Why bring on the trouble?
hollywood is so predictable.
That’s just bad taste, no matter one’s political affiliation.
Agreed.
Bad taste & poor judgement.
Agreed- poor judgment and bad taste. It’s one thing to do something like this on set for cast and crew, another altogether to put it on camera.
I’m a big Obama supporter and despise Bush, but this is wrong.
Come on, am I the only person who thinks that’s awesome??
I think it’s wonderful. You Republicans are the biggest bunch of whining ninnies.
Please, you’d and the rest of the lefties be causing a ruckus if they put Obama’s head on there.
Give me a break. Liberals have made a cottage industry over being offended about various trivial matters – see the recent Cake Boss controversy for an example. Liberals are notoriously thin-skinned and whiny.
I think the thing with Bush’s head is disrespectful, but if it doesn’t bother him, then so be it. But I guarantee you if it were Obama’s head, the Libs would be screaming bloody murder – going on about racism, calling it a “hate crime” (see? another example of liberal whinyness) and demanding a government-lead investigation and reparations.
Oh yeah, because conservatives don’t complain about anything. Hell, for the past 4 years, they’ve complained about things that aren’t even true. Remember the death panels? Obama is a secret Muslim who was born overseas and hates white people? Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, etc. are examples of conservative being offended and intolerant of others.
This liberal has zero idea what the “Cake Boss controversy” is. I must have missed the memo from the Politburo.
The only people who think it’s “awesome” are haters. Try to let go of your hate – you’ll live longer.
NOPE your not!
I think its hilarious!
I think it is awesome
Yeah, I hate it when educated people who don’t believe in a magic that lives in the sky express their political views.
Educated people know that mocking someone’s religious views is the epitome of intolerance. They also know what respect is. If you don’t believe in the same things as someone else, fine, mind your own business.
Then tell your religious friends to stop telling the rest of us how to live.
Not all religious people subscribe to religiosity. It’s unfair to lump people with personal beliefs in with extremists who love attention. And I don’t see how an incident on a television show is at all related to “magic in the sky.”
So is he saying they used the head because it was a leftover from a different production just lying around? Or did they actually make it for the show as a joke or something? Seems like a pretty big difference to me.
Believable for people unfamiliar with showbiz props, SFX, etc.
They called up a special f/x supply house and said “we need a truck load of artificial severed heads for a scene.” They probably should have said “Oh, and leave out any heads that are famous and instantly recognizable, we want generic no-name heads.”
The crew set up the field of severed heads for the scene. One or more of them noticed the george bush head, but never got around to mentioning it until *after* the scenes were in the can. At which point the producers went “Really? Crud. Wonder if anyone will notice.”
Looks like if they had just kept their mouths shut, it would have been better. But then, the shit would have hit the fan a few years from now when word of mouth got around “Yea, I used to work on game of thrones.. See that scene? That’s george bush there on the left.”
Not a political comment. Bullshit. Sorry liberals NO ONE is as stupid as you think they are. Well maybe the people who vote for Dems after listening to you, might be.
Don’t bitch when the payback comes. Of course the Right would have to act like you, for that to happen. So you are safe.
I wonder why they didn’t have Obama’s head just “laying around?” Clinton’s? Carter’s? algore’s?
Don’t they watch MSNBC? or get the Media Matters daily email? Surely they do. Hell, Shepard Fairey didn’t have a problem finding an image of Obama; and he is less talented/intelligent than these people. Oh that’s right, that would be racist and he would pilloried by the “neutral” hollywoodsters. The hollering would deafen the nation, and you would never work again, in Hollywood.
Yea, it’s not political at all.
Said it for me.
What do you righties miss most about Bush? His failure to protect America on 9/11? His inability to get Osama? His five dollar a gallon gas? His daily blunders and gaffes? His inability to form a coherent sentence? The Jeff Gannon affair? His attempt to sell our ports to Dubai? His gross mismanagement of the economy? His spending more time on vacation than any other president before him? Or his lying us into two failed and unnecessary wars that have killed untold numbers of people and bankrupted the country?
I love this post and will be stealing it. Thank you Freedom Fries!
Go Freedom Fries!
Well, considering there were no principal black actors in season 1 (and Westeros is overwhelmingly white), it would’ve looked kinda weird to have a black person’ head up there.
Said it for me. Haha.
Not a fan of George w but that is not ok.
@ violet – no, it is awesome.
Wow. Everyone who is making this an issue… Shut up.
Breathe, then see how you’d feel if it was Obama’s head. I doubt you’d “shut up.”
Who the fuck cares who heads it is. It really isn’t that big of a deal. People who are still crying about this are making mountains out of mole hills. They could put my moms head up on a pike and I wouldn’t give a shit. It’s a prosthetic head for a scene that was less than 3 minutes long. People need to take a deep breathe and calm the fuck down about this.
The faux conservatives on here are killing me. They put severed heads on TV and your issue is with the fact that one of them looks like Bushy?! Real conservatives would be more focused on the indecency of putting severed heads on TV.
Actually, a real conservative would say that the creators were free to do anything they like and the market would determine whether it was a good move or not. You are actually referring to a cultural conservative who are conservative in name only.
thats libertarianism, not conservatism, moron.
Yet they have no problem with rightwing loonbats showing up at Obama campaign rallies strapped with assault weapons. Or posters depicting Obama as Socialist Joker. Bunch of self-loathing hate-filled ingnoramuses masquerading as Christians.
Judge not lest ye be judged?? Didnt think you would know that one.
I love how you use Eisenhower as your handler to be the “real conservative”, like you think you know the Republican party. You just outed yourself as a Democrat. I remember Calista Flockhart in the Brothers & Sisters pilot going on and on about how Eisenhower was a REAL Republican. You can only compliment a Republican THAT dated.
You don’t know shit about Real Republicans. You can dangle whatever social issue of the day in front of people like Michelle Bachman so they can spaz and be promoted by “liberals” as the Republican standard. But at the end of the day Real Republicans could care less about what you do, all we want is for you to agree that America is awesome, stop being ingrates to the country that provides you with countless opportunity, speak english (or two languages, spanish is cool too), play for team America and not glamorize Cuba/Russia/China and think they’re so cool, keep our military strong and stop spending our money in Congress on the stupidest shit ever and making everything in life a BUREAUCRATIC nightmare.
Who was it who said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country”?
As I recall, it wasn’t a Republican.
what kind of idiot would even acknowledge it on a DVD commentary if it weren’t some sort of political statement?
Putting any living president’s head on a spike like that is going to create a lot of backlash no matter which party.
That was stupid.
I think it was an inside joke by the prop guys and they should have kept it to thtemselves.
They are going to fuck around and get the series canceled.
Best thing since the Soprano’s
This is moronic — and I’d feel the same if it were Obama or Clinton.
Totally agree. It’s pretty tasteless.
However, I think it’s even more tasteless and gutless that they try to make it sound like it was some kind of happy accident rather than just admit that they wanted to put W’s head on a spike.
Wait, you tune into a TV show that is largely about politics (albeit in an imagined setting) to forget about politics?
Brilliant. A little late. Reminds me of the “Cheney Shotgun Shells” in the film “Ratatouille.” Only that was funnier, since dick had shot a friend in the face with a gun.
Maybe some time in the military would have helped both of them.
Has everyone lost their sense of humor? IT’S A JOKE. Lighten up. It’s funny. George Bush is alive and well and I’ll bet he thinks this is funny.
It was not a joke, it was not meant to be a political statement. It was just something they had around. The tried to disguise the head so it didn’t look like Bush.
If he was beheaded by Joffrey, doesn’t that make him one of the good guys?
I doubt anyone complaining even watches the show , so they wouldn’t even know who Joffrey is. They just need something to rant about
Joffrey is the little bitch who needs his head cut off
The few dozen people who comment on here are literally the only people who will care about this. And if they actually liked they show they will keep watching. This is a huge non issue.
You guys don’t matter. Their ratings will stay the same, maybe even go up.
The fact that a clear attempt was made to DISGUISE the head in question (the long-haired wig covering it) suggests that he’s sincere is saying they just used an available prop with no intent as commentary. (Not sure WHAT that commentary would MEAN, anyway- after all, it IS on display next to the head of the show’s most noble character, so is that a compliment or an insult?)
It DOES raise the question of where the head came from- did they just raid the nearest wax museum for props?
I’m a die-hard liberal Democrat, but it’s highly inappropriate and should be digitally removed. The producers should apologize as well.
…And let the faux-outrage machine begin! Now all the Fox News programs and Rush Limbaugh have their lead story for tomorrow.
There’s a reason you didn’t hear anything about this when the episode aired, over a year ago. The head is a small object outside the center of focus and was given a hair treatment that looks nothing like the former president’s. As a result the overall depiction looks nothing like him. If it wasn’t for the commentary likely no one would notice nor care.
I tend to believe the reason given — they needed some extra head forms and that was one of the ones available.
Exactly. This is just another strained excuse for the right to put on their “offended” routine.
If I were to guess, I would think the producers/directors didn’t even recognize the head in the final set up of the shot, and it indeed was a head that was available (they do have to be manufactured).
Maybe the production designer’s assistant or someone was making a statement and deliberately put it up there after disguising it, but that’s a far cry from a liberal Hollywood conspiracy.
It does make me want a copy of the DVD today so I could have the original before it’s filtered out (even more than it’s already obscured).
The season one DVD sets have also been out for a few months. Did it really take that long for someone to listen to the commentary track on the last episode? The shot is up there for less than a second, the head has a wig on it to obscure who it looks like and this should be a non-issue.
Now if only the severed heads had been from “Spitting Image”. Let the Phil Collins backlash begin!