Gone with the Wind screening canceled after racism complaints

MEMPHIS, Tennessee — A movie theater in the southeastern US state of Tennessee has halted its annual screening of Gone with the Wind after receiving complaints over the film’s racial content, said media reports.

The Orpheum Theatre in Memphis has announced that the 1939 classic romance will not be shown during its summer movie series in 2018.

The theater’s recent screening of the film on Aug 11, one day ahead of a rally by white nationalists in Charlottesville that turned violent, generated numerous complaints online.

Some patrons and commenters criticized the film’s depiction of black people as a glorification of slavery in the American southern plantations.

“As an organization whose stated mission is to ‘entertain, educate and enlighten the communities it serves,’ the Orpheum cannot show a film that is insensitive to a large segment of its local population,” said Brett Batterson, president of the Orpheum Theater Group, in a statement.

The cancellation has generated mixed responses, with the Oscar-winning film’s fans decrying the decision as “censorship” and others voicing their support and understanding.

“This is a beautiful classic and to ban it is a show of small minds. The south has far to go to catch up with the rest of the world. Shame on the decisionmakers here,” one commenter wrote on the Orpheum Theatre’s Facebook page.

Another said, “I applaud your difficult but proper decision to cut Gone With The Wind from your film choices. Most in our culture have moved on, and I hope those angered can find other ways to watch the film while remaining supporters of your important and unique business.”

At the 12th Academy Awards in 1940, Hattie McDaniel won the Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of a slave named Mammy, which made her the first African-American to receive an Academy Award.