The classic US civil war epic Gone With the Wind has been dropped from a US TV network following calls for it to be removed over its depiction of slavery.
HBO Max, the streaming service recently launched by Warner Bros as a rival to Netflix and Disney+ said the 1939 film was "a product of its time" and depicted "ethnic and racial prejudices" that "were wrong then and are wrong today".
It comes hot on the heels of the sketch comedy series Little Britain being taken down from Netflix, BBC iPlayer, and Britbox. The show saw Matt Lucas and David Walliams play characters from different ethnic backgrounds, including Desiree DeVere - a woman played by Walliams in full blackface.
READ MORE: Little Britain removed from BBC iPlayer and Netflix because 'times have changed'
HBO's temporary removal of the film - famed for Clarke Gable's closing line, "frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn" - from its streaming service follows criticism amidst the Black Lives Matters protests.
HBO said the film would return to the platform at an unspecified date with a "discussion of its historical context".
The removal comes amid anti-racism protests ignited by the death of George Floyd. The unarmed black man died while a white police officer in Minneapolis knelt on his neck from more then eight minutes.
Screenwriter and director John Ridley urged HBO Max parent company WarnerMedia to temporarily take it down .
Writing in the LA Times, the Oscar-winning scriptwriter of 12 Years a Slave, described it as “a film that, when it is not ignoring the horrors of slavery, pauses only to perpetuate some of the most painful stereotypes of people of colour”.
Mr Ridley added: “At a moment when we are all considering what more we can do to fight bigotry and intolerance, I would ask that all content providers look at their libraries and make a good-faith effort to separate programming that might be lacking in its representation from that which is blatant in its demonisation.”
Based on the novel by Margaret Mitchell, the movie is set during and after the American Civil War, and has long been attacked for its depiction of slavery.
It features slave characters who seem contented with their lot and who remain loyal to their former owners after slavery's abolition.
In a statement, HBO said it would be wrong to keep the film on its platform without "an explanation and a denouncement" of its "racist depictions".
READ MORE: Black Lives Matters protesters plan to topple Glasgow statue of a former PM - but have wrong man
HBO said: “These racist depictions were wrong then and are wrong today, and we felt that to keep this title up without an explanation and a denouncement of those depictions would be irresponsible.”
The streaming service added that the film would return to the platform accompanied by “a discussion of its historical context and a denouncement of those very depictions”, but would remain unaltered “because to do otherwise would be the same as claiming these prejudices never existed”.
The movie received 10 Oscars and remains the highest-grossing movie of all time when its takings are adjusted for inflation.
Hattie McDaniel became the first black actress to be nominated for, and win, an Academy Award for her role as domestic servant Mammy.
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