HBO was quick to apologize this morning after one of its most popular shows aired a scene that featured the decapitated head of George W. Bush. Oddly enough, the show was not "Real Time with Bill Maher," but "Game of Thrones."
The (severed) head of state appears in the background of the first season finale, along with a number of other heads on spikes. The face is obscured by a long wig and dirt, but if you really squint it kind of looks like Bush's profile (check out the video here). The head was first noticed by a Reddit user (natch) and confirmed in a DVD commentary track by showrunners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss.
"The last head on the left is George Bush,” they said. “George Bush’s head appears in a couple beheading scenes. It’s not a choice, it’s not a political statement. It’s just, we had to use what heads we had around.”
You know how it seems like you just can't get rid of all those rubber George W. Bush heads? They pile up in your laundry room and you think you'll reuse them eventually but they just end up getting thrown away? Well instead of clogging up landfills with more rubber George W. Bush heads (where they'll take 500 years to decompose!) the "Game of Thrones" producers decided to put them to use. It's the three R's, people.
Unfortunately, not everyone sees it that way. The normally level-headed commenters on Free Republic are outraged, and Brooklyn Republican Party Chairman Craig Eaton, who said he said he isn't familiar with the show, called on Americans to boycott "Thrones" and any other show that disparages a former president by showing a rubber head that kind looks like him for a couple of seconds.
HBO and the producers have issued an apology, and said that the head in question will be scrubbed from future DVD releases.
Since Bush's head appeared back in season one of "Thrones" and wasn't noticed until almost a year later, we're wondering what other topical blink-and-you-miss-it severed head cameos have appeard on the show. Betty White? Tay Zonday? The dog from "The Artist"? Keep your eyes peeled, readers!
