Hours after a story went viral about a model of President George W. Bush's head appearing on a spike in Season 1 of HBO's Game of Thrones, the cable network and showrunners have issued an apology.
The scene in question depicts the model of the 43rd president's severed head on a spike near the beginning of the genre show's freshman-season finale in which King Joffrey Baratheon (Jack Gleeson) forces Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) to look at the decapitated head of her father (Sean Bean). Bush's head is not completely visible, but the bottom half of his face isn't hard to recognize.
STORY: 'Game of Thrones' Season 1 Showed George W. Bush's Head on Spike
Showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss acknowledged the likeness during the commentary feature on the show's DVD box set, noting the decision to use the model was motivated by budget and not by politics. "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 head we had around," they said in the commentary.
I don't buy their explanation. My guess is they thought they were being cute and are only sorry they got caught due to their own stupidity.
Best guess is that GRRM thought it was hilarious. So maybe he should try actually writing the fraking books instead of making cheap political points.
Even the arch-liberals over at Think Progress expect this to generate an "inevitable accusation that suggestions of violence against conservatives are treated less seriously than suggestions of violence against liberals." Of course, it's not just an accusation. It is a social fact in today's biased media culture.
