A documentary about the life of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was inexplicably removed from Amazon Prime during Black History Month.
“Our distributor, who’s the one who made the deal with Amazon, has repeatedly asked them for explanations, but they haven’t given any,” said Michael Pack, the film’s director. “They have the right to pull anything from their site, and they don’t have to give an explanation. So it’s not a contract violation. But many people have complained, and they haven’t put it back up.”
The film, Created Equal: Clarence Thomas In His Own Words, was removed from the Amazon video service on Feb. 8, shortly into Black History Month. Thomas, who was the second black person to join the Supreme Court, has often been a controversial figure on the bench due to his conservative, originalist judicial philosophy.
The film covers the life of Thomas from his childhood in segregated Georgia, his education at Yale University, and his heated Supreme Court confirmation hearings, which featured accusations of sexual harassment from Anita Hill, a law professor who had previously worked for him.
The documentary was originally released on PBS in May 2020 and made available on Amazon in October. Park said the film was doing well on the platform, at one point rising to the No. 1 documentary on the service and ranking ahead of films about Anita Hill and the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
The controversy surrounding the film’s removal from the streaming service has created a spike in its DVD sales, with Amazon listing the film as “Temporarily out of stock” and encouraging users to enter the email address to be notified when it is available again.
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“I don’t think Amazon should get away with doing these things without suffering at least some PR consequences,” Park said of his and other films being removed from their platforms. “Deplatforming will go on if people don’t write about it and complain about it.”
Amazon did not immediately respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.
