Streaming service Netflix is under fire for its description of the popular classic film, “Gone with the Wind.” The film was released in 1939 and takes place in the South during the Civil War. It earned 8 Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress for Hattie McDaniel, the first African American to win the award. While the film is currently unavailable for streaming in the US on Netflix, an image of an old Netflix description of the film has sparked ire from conservatives and fans of the film. “A 1939 American Civil War epic known for its racism,” the description read. “To learn more about Black lives in America, search ‘Black Lives Matter.’”

While the description has been visible for years, images of the placeholder quickly went viral. “INSANE: This is the Netflix description for Gone with the Wind,” wrote one account on X, sharing the description. “Gone with the Wind is one of the most BELOVED films of all time. In fact, it remains the highest-grossing film of all time when adjusted for inflation. And THIS is how Netflix describes it? WTF?!?” “Screw Netflix… Seriously,” wrote another account. “I considered resubbing just to watch some shows, but after they edited the description for Gone with the Wind, I’m never going to. It calls the movie racist and then tells people to learn about ‘Black Lives Matter’ instead.”

Both the film and the 1936 novel it was based on have courted controversy over its depiction of slavery and the use of the “happy slave” trope. In the trope, slaves are depicted as loyal to their masters and content with their situation, with some choosing to remain even after Emancipation. Despite McDaniel winning for her role in the movie as “Mammy,” she accepted the award at the segregated Ambassador Hotel’s Cocoanut Grove nightclub. During the height of the George Floyd riots and BLM, there were calls for the film to be removed from online streaming services, with filmmaker John Ridley stating that the film “romanticizes the Confederacy in a way that continues to give legitimacy to the notion that the secessionist movement was something more, or better, or more noble than what it was — a bloody insurrection to maintain the ‘right’ to own, sell and buy human beings.” The film was briefly removed from HBO Max and then re-released “with context” to address the film’s supposed racist undertones. It is not currently known who wrote the description and Netflix has not commented on the controversy.