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Cable Net Pulls the Plug on Controversial Documentary

Dec 27, 2016  •  Post A Comment

A TV documentary series that created a ton of buzz when it was announced — with much of that buzz being negative — now will not be going forward. A&E announced Saturday that it has scrapped its high-profile project focusing on the Ku Klux Klan.

The cable channel pulled the plug on “Escaping the KKK” after learning that some participants received payments from the project’s third-party producers to facilitate access.

“While we stand behind the intent of the series and the seriousness of the content, these payments are a direct violation of A&E’s policies and practices for a documentary,” A&E said in its announcement, which also noted that the network understood the payments to be “nominal.”

You can click here to read the full announcement from A&E.

The announcement came one day after A&E issued another statement on the project indicating that the network had decided after consultations with the Anti-Defamation League and Color of Change to go ahead with the project but to change its title. In the announcement issued Dec. 23, the project’s new title was given as “Escaping the KKK: A Documentary Series Exposing Hate in America.”

The full statement released Friday can be seen by clicking here.

In its follow-up statement Saturday, A&E notes: “The documentary ‘Escaping the KKK’ was intended to serve as a close look at anti-hate extractors focused on helping people leave the Ku Klux Klan — the racist hate group with a long history of violence against African Americans and others. Our goal with this series has always been to expose and combat racism and hatred in all its forms.”

2 Comments

  1. It is unfortunate that these payments were made. This is a horrible organization that needed to have a light shown on its activities and the way it recruits, so parents and teachers would be able to spot the signs early and steer their children away.

  2. How can these payments be a problem? They might have to cancel their work for some time to be able to participate in the documentary or they are scared to do this so they most fairly need some compensation!

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