The A&E cable network is getting ready to launch its provocative documentary series entitled Generation KKK, which is set to debut January 10, 2017. The network recently premiered a first look promo, which you can watch below, and it seems that Grey's Anatomy star Ellen Pompeo isn't too thrilled about it. The actress sent out a series of tweets earlier today, calling for her fans to boycott the network, which was met by a swift response from A&E.
Earlier today, Ellen Pompeo sent out a tweet stating, "Shame on you, @AETV," in response to a Salon article which featured the trailer. What followed was a series of tweets from the seemingly-enraged actress, where she called for a boycott of A&E, suggesting that the network reruns of her long-running ABC series Grey's Anatomy instead. Here's what the actress had to say in a number of tweets about the KKK TV series.
"Hey I have an idea...why don't we all never watch ANYTHING on A&E again who's with me???? Maybe @AETV you should just run episodes of @GreysABC instead... we are smarter more compassionate and oh yeah way better looking. So I guess A&E stands for ...we will try to put Anything and Everything on tv... because we are a bunch of desperate pathetic tv execs."
An hour later, she went on to add that, "the timing of this show angers me the most," adding that the network is "capitalizing on a disgusting wave" that Donald Trump started. After that tweet, it didn't take long for the official A&E Twitter to respond, revealing that the documentary isn't quite what she thinks it is, and the Ant-Defamation League (ADL) supports it. Here's the network's brief Twitter statement below.
"The @aetv doc is abt extracting families from the KKK & exposing hate. ADL supports. Please take a look.
A&E first announced this new series earlier this week. By actively targeting families and indoctrinating children, membership in the Ku Klux Klan is on the rise, causing America to come face to face with its stark divisions. In "Generation KKK," cameras follow four prominent Klan families who each have a family member trying to escape the Ku Klux Klan. This series pulls back the curtain on the organization that the Anti-Defamation League calls "a racist, anti-Semitic movement with a commitment to extreme violence to achieve its goals of racial segregation and white supremacy," to show its effects on American families as members grapple with the consequences of leaving. The network first announced this new series earlier this week, with Generation KKK debuting on January 10th at 10pm ET/PT on A&E.
Throughout eight one-hour episodes, the series follows four families: an "Imperial Wizard" who hopes to groom his teenage daughter to take his place; an Iraq war veteran and proud member of the KKK determined to raise his four-year-old son to embrace his views; a young man who sees his close friend and Klan leader as the father he never had, asked to pledge his loyalty to the KKK; and a fifth-generation Klan family struggling to keep up the legacy. The series will also follow a network of anti-hate and peace activists working to break the cycle, by helping to convince members to leave the hate group.
The team consists of Daryle Lamont Jenkins, the co-founder of One People's Project, an organization that monitors and investigates hate groups; speaker, author and peace educator Arno Michaelis, a former skinhead who joined the white power movement at the age of 16; and Bryon Widner, a reformed Neo-Nazi and subject of the documentary Erasing Hate, who spent sixteen years as a skinhead until he realized the environment wasn't best for his son. These activists develop deep relationships with Klan families attempting to convince them to hang up their robes and finally leave the group for good. Take a look at Ellen Pompeo's tweets below about A&E's new series Generation KKK.
Shame on you @AETVhttps://t.co/eeGrdYbdjS
— Ellen Pompeo (@EllenPompeo) December 21, 2016
Hey I have an idea...why don't we all never watch ANYTHING on A&E again who's with me????
— Ellen Pompeo (@EllenPompeo) December 21, 2016
maybe @AETV you should just run episodes of @GreysABC instead... we are smarter more compassionate and oh yeah way better looking ✌????????????
— Ellen Pompeo (@EllenPompeo) December 21, 2016
So I guess A&E stands for ...we will try to put Anything and Everything on tv... because we are a bunch of desperate pathetic tv execs ????????
— Ellen Pompeo (@EllenPompeo) December 21, 2016
Can we get his trending???? https://t.co/5XDfD8tzuT
— Ellen Pompeo (@EllenPompeo) December 21, 2016
We shouldn't be giving ignorance a platform we already did that this year and look what it got us https://t.co/kkl0bEYo2E
— Ellen Pompeo (@EllenPompeo) December 21, 2016
Exactly https://t.co/eiJ8UJtTpn
— Ellen Pompeo (@EllenPompeo) December 21, 2016
I agree that's a great show and what @LeahRemini is doing is important and I love her https://t.co/uh5i1oTaOQ
— Ellen Pompeo (@EllenPompeo) December 21, 2016
Dude don't give the show more attention ugh https://t.co/7XuipMBDNE
— Ellen Pompeo (@EllenPompeo) December 21, 2016
I don't think they are it's a slippery slope https://t.co/G5g948209L
— Ellen Pompeo (@EllenPompeo) December 21, 2016
The timing of this show angers me the most they are capitalizing on a disgusting wave that Trump started and media is normalizing NOT OK
— Ellen Pompeo (@EllenPompeo) December 21, 2016
The @aetv doc is abt extracting families from the KKK & exposing hate. ADL supports. Please take a look https://t.co/w0muB0OSa0
— A&E Network (@AETV) December 21, 2016
Okay if that is what it is PLEASE promote it as such...PLEASE https://t.co/q4j2EWaxyq
— Ellen Pompeo (@EllenPompeo) December 21, 2016
Have they done one on Muslim extemism? https://t.co/gjHIHkAIKp
— Ellen Pompeo (@EllenPompeo) December 21, 2016