A documentary about Justice Clarence Thomas was deleted from Amazon’s streaming service during Black History Month.
“Our distributor has repeatedly asked Amazon for an explanation, but none has been given yet,” said Michael Pack, the director of the film.
The movie, Created Equal: Clarence Thomas In His Own Words, was deleted from Amazon streaming on Feb. 8, right at the start of Black History Month. Thomas, who is the second black SCOTUS judge, has often been controversial due to his conservative philosophy.
The film goes over the life of Thomas from his childhood in Georgia, his time at Yale, and his hotly debated confirmation hearings, which featured sexual harassment accusations from Anita Hill, a professor who he previously worked with.
The documentary was released on PBS in March of last year and arrived on Amazon in October. Park stated the film was doing well, at one time reaching the No. 1 documentary and ranking ahead of documentaries about the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Anita Hill.
The controversy around the film’s removal has created a spike in its DVD sales, with Amazon showing the movie as “out of stock.”
“I don’t believe Amazon should get away with this without getting some PR pushback,” Park said of his film’s censoring. “Deplatforming will keep happening if no one complains about it.”
