In the Season 1 Game of Thrones episode “Fire and Blood,” King Joffrey Baratheon (Jack Gleeson) gruesomely forces Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) to look at her dead father’s decapitated head, which he has propped up on a spike. Joffrey then points out the heads of her dad’s household staff, who’ve suffered the same fate. However, if you pay close attention to one of the spiked noggins in question, it bears a slight resemblance to a former U.S. president.

You can check out the shot for yourself right here:

In the DVD commentary for the episode, series creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss revealed that the head all the way on the left was modeled after George W. Bush. And before you jump to any conclusions, they were quick to point out that this wasn’t a political statement. On the contrary, they simply had to use whatever props they had lying around, and for whatever reason, Bush’s head was available to them. This would appear to be backed up by the fact that the head is facing away from the camera and has long hair, unlike Bush himself.

‘Game of Thrones’ Once Put George W. Bush’s Head on a Spike

But despite the reasonable explanation for the head’s inclusion, people were outraged once word of it hit the internet. This prompted an apology from HBO, in which they said that they were “deeply dismayed” by the situation and found it “unacceptable, disrespectful and in very bad taste.” The network also made their feelings clear to the show’s producers, who apologized for what they called a “careless mistake.”

Furthermore, it was announced that the footage would be removed from future home video releases.

Benioff and Weiss issued a statement of their own as well, clarifying that they’d used a lot of prosthetic body parts on Game of Thrones, but couldn’t afford to have them all made from scratch. For that reason, they had to resort to renting them in bulk. “In the DVD commentary, we mentioned this, though we should not have. We meant no disrespect to the former president and apologize if anything we said or did suggested otherwise,” they wrote in conclusion.

You can listen to George R.R. Martin recount the story to Stephen King in the video below.

The post 15 Years Ago, a ‘Game of Thrones’ Episode Featured the Decapitated Head of a Former U.S. President appeared first on VICE.

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In April 2006, South Park dedicated an hour’s worth of screen time to bashing Family Guy with their special two-part “Cartoon Wars” saga. The big reveal during the second episode was that Family Guy’s popular cutaway gags were constructed by manatees. As Cartman learns while visiting Fox Studios, the creatures come up with jokes for the show by selecting random “idea balls” that have different subjects written on them.

You can take a look at the scene in question right here:

Naturally, Family Guy fans were eagerly anticipating what series creator Seth MacFarlane would do in response. At the following year’s Comic-Con, MacFarlane was asked about South Park’s criticism, but didn’t react in the way many had been hoping he would. “We were actually overjoyed that they spent two half-hours of their airtime talking about us. I don’t have that kind of time,” MacFarlane explained.

“It really does come down to that,” he continued. “We would have to either do the greatest joke in the world that was really quick or do three episodes about South Park.”

‘Family Guy’ Cut Its Planned Response to ‘South Park’s Brutal Manatee Joke

MacFarlane went on to say that he didn’t know how to respond to the attacks and that it was probably best to leave it alone. He did reveal that there was one joke he considered doing to get even with South Park’s Trey Parker and Matt Stone, though. However, at the end of the day, the Family Guy staff decided that it would’ve been too much of a low blow. When the Comic-Con crowd booed MacFarlane for taking the high road, he pushed back by suggesting that he’d get the same reaction regardless of the choice he made.

Luckily, for those who are curious about the deleted gag MacFarlane was referring to, it did end up surfacing eventually. The joke was originally part of a scene from the 2008 episode “McStroke,” in which Stewie, disguised as an older boy, takes his date to a place called Anal Point, where people go to have sex.

As initially conceived, a guy in the car next to theirs can be heard yelling, “Ow, Trey!” to which another man replies, “C’mon, Matt, just relax and let it happen!” Check it out for yourself below.

The post WATCH: The ‘Family Guy’ Joke Seth MacFarlane Decided Was Too Much appeared first on VICE.

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Season 3 of the “Game of Thrones” prequel ends with yet more bloodshed—and less of the charm that’s made Westeros worth visiting.