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The creators of HBO's "Game of Thrones" found themselves in a bit of hot water on Wednesday when word spun around the Internet that former President George W. Bush's likeness made a very unflattering cameo in the first season of the epic fantasy series. More specifically: a prop severed head bearing the former president's likeness appeared mounted on a stick.

Though the head was given a wig of long hair, spattered in mud and turned mostly away from the camera, the distinctive upper lip was a giveaway. And the creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss pointed it out in the DVD commentary on the episode.

"George Bush's head appears in a couple of beheading scenes," the duo revealed in their commentary. "It's not a choice, it's not a political statement. We just had to use whatever heads we had lying around."

Though the DVD set has been on the market since early March, it wasn't until this week that the media discovered the bit of trivia buried in the commentary on the show's first season finale.

On Wednesday, HBO and Benioff and Weiss issued statements of apology.

Benioff and Weiss explained, "We use a lot of prosthetic body parts on the show: heads, arms, etc. We can't afford to have these all made from scratch, especially in scenes where we need a lot of them, so we rent them in bulk. After the scene was already shot, someone pointed out that one of the heads looked like George W. Bush.

"In the DVD commentary, we mentioned this, though we should not have. We meant no disrespect to the former president and apologize if anything we said or did suggested otherwise."

HBO added, "We were deeply dismayed to see this and find it unacceptable, disrespectful and in very bad taste. We made this clear to the executive producers of the series who apologized immediately for this inadvertent careless mistake. We are sorry this happened and will have it removed from any future DVD production."

HBO's statement should be of particular note to super-fans, as the version of the "Game of Thrones" DVD set available looks to be a collector's item soon.

The commentary was first shared on the news site Reddit, where commenters quickly began wondering about why the production company would have a George W. Bush head lying around. As one commenter wrote, "I though everyone just had Bush heads lying around. I keep trying to sell all of mine at garage sales."

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It seems some members of the Republican Party aren’t fans of the Lannisters, either.

Members of the GOP are fuming and HBO has issued an apology after realizing that the creators of “Game of Thrones” used a faux severed replica of former President George W. Bush’s head mounted on a stake in a number of scenes in the hit series.

The fake head, which series creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss reveal in the show’s DVD commentary to be a replica of George W. Bush’s head, is seen in the final episode of the first season.

“People may not have noticed this but … the last head on the left is George Bush,” Benioff and Weiss explain on the DVD commentary track. “George Bush’s head appears in a couple of beheading scenes.”

In the scene, the teenage King Joffrey Baratheon, then under the influence of his wicked mother Cersei Lannister after they’ve seized the throne, shows Sansa Stark a row of heads of traitors to his cause, which have been mounted on pikes.

One of the heads belongs to the girl’s father, Ned Stark. And sitting right there alongside him, donning a long brown wig, is the head of the former president.

“It’s not a choice. It’s not a political statement. It’s just…we had to use what heads we had lying around,” Benioff and Weiss added.

The scene has upset members of the GOP, including Craig Eaton, chairman of the Brooklyn Republican Party, who told the MailOnline that he thinks “it’s despicable.”

“As a country, Democrats, Republicans, we have to have respect for the office and the individuals. Once we lose that respect, the United States looks weak,” he said.

HBO rushed to release a statement late Wednesday upon learning the news, calling the use of the Bush bust “unacceptable, disrespectful and in very bad taste.”

“We made this clear to the executive producers of the series who apologized immediately for this inadvertent careless mistake,” the network said, adding, “Sorry this happened and will have it [the scene] removed from any future DVD production.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/06/fake-head-of-george-bush-
in-game-of-thrones-sparks-ire/

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Originally posted by NewOldBrownCoat:
Also kinda funny that the R's didn't notice it until somebody else called it to their attention. The programs were broadcast, what?, 6 months ago; the DVD's produced and on sale; and then somebody listened to the commentary and figured it out. If the producers hadn't said anything, it woulda been a funny secret trivia bit, an inside joke noticed by only a few super-fans.

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How funny would it have been if it was Obama ?

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Originally posted by whozit:
They wouldn't use Obama's head, those big fucking ears would make it spin around when the wind caught it. Plus there were no black people aloud in the UK in those days....it's a fact!

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Originally posted by pizmobeach:
7 Hells! By the old gods and the new, the Lanisters are a prime example of Westeros Republican scum.

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Originally posted by Kwicko:

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Originally posted by whozit:
They wouldn't use Obama's head, those big fucking ears would make it spin around when the wind caught it. Plus there were no black people aloud in the UK in those days....it's a fact!

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Obviously you've never seen the show or read the books.






"I supported Bush in 2000 and 2004 and intellegence [sic] had very little to do with that decision." - Hero


"I've not watched the video either, or am incapable of intellectually dealing with the substance of this thread, so I'll instead act like a juvenile and claim victory..." - Rappy

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Originally posted by Niki2:
Uh, Mike, not only that, but he seems to think Blacks weren't permitted to speak "aloud" in those days! Isn't illiteracy FUN?

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Originally posted by whozit:

Black people were illeagal in the U.K. untill 1950.....it's a fact!

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Originally posted by pizmobeach:
7 Hells! By the old gods and the new, the Lanisters are a prime example of Westeros Republican scum.

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I have yet to hear the GOP express its outrage over this.

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Originally posted by AnthonyT:

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I have yet to hear the GOP express its outrage over this.

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Hello,

I doubt you will.

--Anthony

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