At this weekend’s New Yorker Festival, “American Horror Story” creator Ryan Murphy confirmed that this week’s episode of “AHS: Cult” will be edited to tone down a mass shooting following last week’s attacks in Las Vegas.
“I believe I have the right to air it. But I also believe in victims’ rights and I believe that now is not the week to have something explosive or incendiary in the culture,” he said, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “Nobody ever talks about victims’ rights. That’s sort of a weird emotional discussion that’s never bridged. But I felt great sympathy for people who were affected, certainly, and family members and loved ones and people who are upset about the way the world is.”
Murphy told The New Yorker’s Emily Nussbaum that he enjoys art that breaks taboos and that he himself is hardly offended by art; but after the tragedy in Las Vegas, he discussed the shooting scenes in “AHS” with Fox executives and the “AHS” crew. It was agreed to recut the episode so much of the violence is implied and occurs off-screen.
During the interview, Murphy also discussed the scandal surrounding Harvey Weinstein and the New York Times report listing his history of sexual harassment. He said that while he only interacted with Weinstein once, but when the mogul’s name would come up in conversation with Oscar-winning actress, “there was always the same ick factor.”
“The timing of this is interesting. I do think the business and the world are changing,” Murphy added. “If you try that in a corporate environment, you get slapped down.”