Well, that was fast: Mere days after revealing they were working on a TV series chronicling the Ghost Ship fire that claimed 36 lives in 2016, power couple Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman have announced they were cancelling said plan entirely. The show had inspired a massive backlash, mostly from loved ones of victims and survivors.
Entertainment Weekly caught the news, which was announced on Waldman’s Twitter feed. “We’ve heard from parents of the victims, from friends and survivors, and from conscientious members of the community, appealing to us to reconsider telling the story of the Ghost Ship,” she wrote. “These appeals have been heartbreaking to hear, and they have changed our minds.”
She concluded: “At this time, therefore, we will not be proceeding, and will do our part to leave the families and survivors to their grief and their loss, in the fervent hope that someday they find not just comfort but also a measure of justice.”
The Ghost Ship fire occurred three Decembers ago, at a warehouse that had been converted into an artist’s commune. The tragedy occurred during a concert, claiming about a third of a crowd that was between 80 and 100 people.
Previously, Chabon had announced, last Wednesday, that he and Waldman were drawing mainly from a New York Times piece by Elizabeth Weil. That they were going off that article was criticized as well, with one person taking it to task for telling the story from the perspective of one of the men charged with — and later acquitted of — causing the fire.
(Via EW)
