No ‘Gone with the Wind’ Southern Romanticizing in My Books

I’m sure most people have heard that HBO pulled the movie ‘Gone with the Wind’ from their list and a lot of people are thrilled about this, and a lot are livid.

I’m thrilled. I couldn’t stand that movie, or the book. It’s the epitome of straight white privilege and everything that’s ever made me cringe. I never liked it, or anything that resembles it. I also read they may bring it back in the future with a commentary or discussion. But that’s no definite yet.

With all that said, this is why when I set my book, ‘Once Upon a Castle,’ in the south, I made a point of letting readers know that I was NOT romanticizing the old south in a southern plantation. Yes, the book is set in the south, but nothing about the book romanticizes the old south.

I just hope this trend continues everywhere. I think most people are tired of making excuses for racism just because it happened years and years ago.

Here’s a blurb for ‘Once Upon a Castle.’ And here’s the link. 

Barry is a bright, handsome young gay man in a loveless gay marriage who decides he needs to take a break from his life in New York. So he talks his best friend Shawn into leasing a beautiful, magical old house in Louisiana for one month called Magnolia Castle. 

Shawn is a handsome ex-model and he’s married to an aggressive woman named Kayt who rules every aspect of his life. The thought of getting away from New York with Barry for a month is almost too good to be true. 

There’s nothing about Magnolia Castle’s history that’s typical. It doesn’t even look like a castle, and it’s not one of those romanticized old southern plantations either. Magnolia Castle was built by wealthy people who were part of an anti-slavery society in the old south, and it was never intended to be a working plantation.

In order to afford Magnolia Castle for one month, Barry and Shawn find two unusual people to share the expense. One has massive world fame and the other is hiding a deep, personal secret no one knows. They all think they are going there to reflect on their lives, however, they soon discover that nothing at Magnolia Castle can be predicted. And even though Barry never thought he would find true love again, he finds himself in a complicated situation with a man named Dusty Rhodes, where true love still might be a possibility.

Megyn Kelly’s Meltdown Over ‘Cops’ and ‘Gone with the Wind’ Cancellations

Apparently, Megyn Kelly is not too thrilled about the TV show ‘Cops’ being canceled. And she’s even more unhappy about HBO pulling ‘Gone with the Wind.’ 

However, she’s misguided but not totally wrong. I despise things like ‘Gone with the Wind,’ but I also despise those heteronormative TV shows like ‘Friends.’ I think shows like ‘Friends’ should be removed, too. And unlike Kelly, I’m not being glib or sarcastic about that. I really mean it.  Get rid of ‘Friends.’ And ‘Seinfeld’ isn’t much better either.  

Next Kelly, who believes businesses should be able to discriminate against LGBTQ people on religious grounds, demanded HBO Max also remove Friends because of how it depicts women and LGBTQ people, as well as several other shows that she feels are problematic.

Here’s the link to more.  

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