A&E cancels controversial show about the KKK

Television network A&E announced Saturday that it's cancelling its controversial docu-series about the American White supremacist group the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) after discovering that some on-air participants had been paid by third-party producers for their participation.

The network said that the fees were small and paid in order to facilitate access. "While we stand behind the intent of the series and the seriousness of the content, these payments are a direct violation of A&E’s policies and practices for a documentary," an A&E spokesperson said in a statement posted on its website on Saturday.

On Friday, A&E announced that a series of changes were going to be made to the controversial series including changing the name of the show, originally titled Generation KKK.

Color of Change, a racial justice organization, pressured the network to ensure that the show was not framed in a way that normalized racism.

A&E partnered with Color of Change and the Anti-Defamation League to feature in-show segments designed to provide greater context about the show's content.

The show, later renamed Escaping the KKK: A Documentary Series Exposing Hate in America, was supposed to follow family members who work with anti-hate "extractors" in order to help themselves or their family leave the KKK.

"One of the many conditions for Color Of Change’s involvement was that none of the on-air participants were being paid. It was the first commitment A&E made to us and we made it clear when we agreed to support content and marketing changes that we would withdraw if participants were paid. With this new information, canceling the show is the only acceptable decision," Rashad Robinson, the executive director of Color Of Change, said in a statement.

When the show was first announced, the network immediately received backlash from prominent actors like Wendell Pierce (The Wire) and Ellen Pompeo (Grey's Anatomy), as well as on social media.

"The documentary Escaping the KKK was intended to serve as a close look at anti-hate extractors focused on helping people leave the Ku Klux Klan—the racist hate group with a long history of violence against African Americans and others," the A&E statement continued. "Our goal with this series has always been to expose and combat racism and hatred in all its forms."

Currently, there's no official word as to whether or not producers will try to find another outlet for the program. The original trailer for the show has been removed from YouTube.