"Homeland" is currently facing a setback following the airing of Sunday’s episode titled “The Tradition of Hospitality”. Artists who were asked by producers to write graffiti on the Syrian-fictional set filmed in Berlin made a political statement against the Emmy winning spy drama. The most-highlighted statement being, “Homeland is racist”.
“Given the series’ reputation, we were not easily convinced, until we considered what a moment of intervention could relay about our own and many others’ political discontent with the series,” the Arabian artists said in a statement released Wednesday on their website. “It was our moment to make our point by subverting the message using the show itself,” they explained.
The Guardian reports that the production team of the Claire Danes-starred spy series has handed the trio images of “pro-Assad graffiti – apparently natural in a Syrian refugee camp”.
However, they decided to take the opportunity to voice out their criticisms against the show by a series of messages stating: “Homeland is NOT a series”, “The situation is not to be trusted” and “This show does not represent the views of the artists.”
Unfortunately, the script was not checked by the production crew. The artists claimed that the “content of what was written on the walls … was of no concern”. Later pointing out that the Homeland producers perceived the script as a mere supplementary visual to complete the set.
To this end, showrunner Alex Gansa released a statement via Deadline addressing the ongoing attack against Homeland. “We wish we’d caught these images before they made it to air. However, as Homeland always strives to be subversive in its own right and a stimulus for conversation, we can’t help but admire this act of artistic sabotage,” the exec producer said.
There is no confirmation yet from the showrunners whether the graffiti will be digitally removed for future telecasts of the episode.
"Homeland" airs every Sunday on Showtime.
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