The Bush Mask as seen on Game of Thrones

HBO’s Game of Thrones has been the subject of a lot of controversy, since it was revealed that the show used a mask of former President George W. Bush to depict a decapitated head. The production crew apologized, saying that they just had to use the heads they had lying around. They can make any excuse they want and say that it isn’t a political statement, but that does not make the putting a former presidents head on a stake any less inappropriate.

The fact is that it doesn’t matter what anyone thinks of President Bush. It doesn’t matter how often he may have disappointed some parts of the public. He was still the president of the United States and deserves some basic human decency. Frankly, I do believe the Game of Thrones crew and that it wasn’t trying to express any hate toward Bush, but that’s irrelevant. It was in poor taste. They should have known they would have to defend themselves. You don’t just get away with something that is potentially and probably extremely offensive.

Placing Former President Bush’s head on a stake could easily be interpreted as a symbol of the desire to decapitate him, even if it wasn’t intended as such. Someone needed to think it out more carefully. It’s patently offensive. A member of the crew should have thought that the reaction to this will not be positive.

Thankfully, all content about the decapitation will be removed from Game of Thrones DVDs. The show did the right thing after the fact, but such a blatantly offensive idea should have never been thought of in the first place.