The normalizing of the KKK will have to happen without A&E’s help. The network has decidedly canceled Escaping the KKK: A Documentary Series Exposing Hate in America (formerly Generation KKK) much to the happiness of critics. However, it wasn’t the mounting backlash that caused A&E to pull the plug on their reality show about “high-ranking Klan members and their families.” In fact, they still stand by the show. Generation KKK was canceled because the network found out producers helped klansmen profit from hate.
In a prepared statement sent regarding the show’s cancellation, A&E said it recently learned producers made cash payments to “participants” to gain access. The statement reads,
“A&E learned last night from the third-party producers who made the documentary that cash payments — which we currently understand to be nominal — were made in the field to some participants in order to facilitate access. While we stand behind the intent of the series and the seriousness of the content, these payments are a direct violation of A&E’s policies and practices for a documentary. We had previously provided assurances to the public and to our core partners – including the Anti-Defamation League and Color of Change – that no payment was made to hate group members, and we believed that to be the case at the time. We have now decided not to move forward with airing this project.”
Whether this is just a convenient excuse for A&E to cancel the show due to backlash while still maintaining their integrity or if the payments were actually unknown before now is impossible to tell. But the show is gone either way.
