'Sons of Anarchy' 2013 Season: Creator Kurt Sutter Responds To 'Terrifying' Calls for Censorship [VIDEO]
Kurt Sutter doesn't want to hear it from the Parents Television Council. The "Sons of Anarchy" creator responded to the conservative watchdog group yesterday, which described Tuesday's Season 6 premiere of the motorcyle drama as a reason why consumers should get to choose what cable networks they pay for under their proposed TV Consumer Freedom Act.
"The Parents Television Council is calling on its members to contact Congress to express the urgent need for a consumer cable choice solution in response to the violent and sexually graphic premiere of FX's "Sons of Anarchy," which featured a young boy committing a school shooting, simulated rape scenes, torture of women, and a man who was drowned in a bathtub of urine," the PTC statement read.
"What FX chose to show - a scene of a young boy murdering innocent children in a school with a semi-automatic gun - is enough of a reason for consumers to have the choice not to underwrite such horrifically violent and disturbing material. Think about the parents who have been personally affected by real-life school shootings - even they were forced to contribute to FX on their cable bills. This is an outrage, and the time for consumers to have real choice has come," PTC President Tim Winter said.
Sutter responded later with a webcast on his "WTFSutter" YouTube account, calling the PTC's proposition "terrifying."
"I would imagine these are not evil people," Sutter said. "But they are just not very intuitive or intelligent individuals. It's such a small and simple view of process. The fact that people want to be monitoring what my children watch is terrifying. There is no awareness of what is the bigger objective of that episodes, the bigger point of the narrative. And to me that's a really simplistic, dangerous view of anything, never mind the creative process."
"There are some people who have a deep amount of sensitivity toward the idea of a school shooting and how painful that is, and what I'm about to say will probably sound somewhat callous and I don't mean it to ... I trying to be thoughtful," Sutter continued "But for me, I'm a storyteller. I'm not a social guru, I'm not a guy with an agenda politically, socially or morally. I'm a f-ing storyteller. My job is to engage, entertain and perhaps make you think. That's what I do on a daily basis. I'm blessed that I have a God-given gift to do so, and to bring you along for the ride. When anybody tries to take that away from me, or impede that, I get defensive. I take that to heart."
The Season 6 premiere brought in around 5.87 million viewers on Tuesday night and its encore showings have added around 3 million more. FX expects the premiere episode to be the top-rated single telecast in the network's history.
Overall, I agree with Sutter on this. "Sons of Anarchy" airs at 10 p.m. on a cable network and is rated TV-MA for a reason. Check out my review of the premiere episode here. You can watch Sutter's response to the PTC in full below.