Peacock’s ‘Queer as Folk’ Creator on Gun Violence Depicted in the Series: ‘I Hate That the Show Is as Relevant as It Is Right Now’
variety.comSasha Urban editorAfter the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Tex. on May 24, Quinta Brunson tweeted that it was “wild how many people have asked for a school shooting episode of the show I write,” referring to her ABC sitcom “Abbott Elementary” and adding that the clear answer is “no.” Meanwhile, CBS pulled the season finale of “FBI” in response to the tragedy, while Netflix added a content warning for Season 4 of “Stranger Things” due to the show’s depiction of violence.“Queer as Folk,” Stephen Dunn’s reimagining of the groundbreaking British television series for Peacock, also announced that the show’s pilot episode would include a warning card.
Unlike its counterparts, however, “Queer as Folk” addresses the issue of gun violence head-on, centering its story on a mass shooting based on the 2016 massacre at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., that left 50 people dead.
At the show’s premiere, which opened Outfest’s OutFront TV Festival at the Theatre at Ace Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles, Dunn explained why the decision to include a warning card was made. “Even despite the past week, it feels like people who are in proximity to someone who has experienced gun violence are so high that it just feels like the right thing to do,” Dunn told Variety. “But it’s also really important to tell these stories because it happens so much that it’s so exhausting and we just move on to the next one.
It’s important to tell the stories of people who don’t get to necessarily move on and what that experience is like.”Kim Cattrall plays Brenda, a mother whose adopted son Brodie survives the shooting.
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