Game of Thrones' George RR Martin accused of making racially and sexually insensitive comments at awards show

From Digital Spy

Game of Thrones author George RR Martin has been criticised for making what viewers said were racially and sexually insensitive comments at an awards show.

On Friday (July 31), the author digitally hosted the 2020 Hugo Awards, which celebrate achievements in the field of science fiction and fantasy.

Martin has since been heavily criticised by many viewers for mispronouncing the names of several nominees, many of whom are people of colour – including this year's winner of the Astounding Award for Best New Writer, Rebecca F Kuang – which Martin has since apologised for.

He also spoke at length to praise writers HP Lovecraft and John W Campbell, who both won Retro Hugo Awards this year but have been condemned for the racist views they held during their lifetime.

Campbell even had his name removed from the Best New Writer award after last year's winner Jeannette Ng pointed out his troubling legacy.

Related: Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon begins casting major characters

Writer Andrew Liptak called Martin's stint "embarrassing" and "tone-deaf", and noted it was "in stark contrast to the messages of the winners, who spoke about confronting and overturning the long-standing barriers that have largely blocked them out of the field".

Elsewhere, Martin made a joke about the Oscar statuette not being a man and instead being a "golden eunuch", which former Best Fan Writer Hugo nominee Natalie Luhrs labelled "gender essentialist and transphobic".

"I'm not particularly gender non-conforming, but if that segment made me feel gross and unwelcome, imagine how it made not only the trans and other gender non-conforming nominees feel, but also all those who were watching," Luhrs wrote.

Martin has since addressed the criticism, explaining that he did not have the "correct phonetic pronunciations" of the names made available to him and apologised for getting them wrong.

In a lengthy post on File 770, he wrote: "At no point in the process was I ever given a phonetic guide to how to pronounce all the other finalists, the ones who did not win. Had I received that, I would certainly have made every effort to get all the names correct.

"I do hereby apologize to everyone and anyone whose name I mispronounced. I am deeply sorry. That was never my intent."

Speaking more generally about his hosting style and his decision to put so much focus on problematic writers of the past, Martin added: "My intent from the very start was to make the evening one of fun and celebration.

"Since I expected a great many of those present to be Kiwis attending their con, I thought laying out the history of the awards was more than appropriate. Where the Hugos came from, how the trophy evolved over the decades, who has won it in the past – and who has lost it, something I tried to stress throughout, given my long history as a Hugo loser.

"Most of the stories I told last night were time-tested, in a sense. I have told those same stories before. Usually they get big laughs. Or medium sized laughs, in any case. That was what I was hoping to hear from the audience in Wellington. Laughs. And appreciation for the long and colorful history of this field we all love: the writers, the editors, the fans, the living and the dead.

"I regret that some of you did not enjoy my hosting. And I am pleased to hear that so many of you did... Obviously I wish I could have been everyone's favorite toastmaster of all time, but you can't please all the people all the time."

Related: Game of Thrones unveils first look at new book

Digital Spy has reached out to Martin's representatives for any further comment.

This year's Worldcon event CoNZealand, which hosted the virtual Hugos, also issued its own apology for the handling of the ceremony.

"We acknowledge that we got some things wrong at the Hugo Awards Ceremony today, and through doing so have hurt members of our community," the statement read.

"We sincerely apologise for that hurt. We apologise for the mispronunciation of names and any disrespect implied. Phonetic guidelines were made available to us and we did not overcome the challenges we faced.

"As chairs, we accept full responsibility for this. This chairs also made the decision to provide an agnostic platform for all the participants and did not place restrictions on any speech or presentations."

Following her win, Kuang gave a heartfelt acceptance speech that highlighted some of the prejudices faced by new science fiction and fantasy authors, sharing the video on social media.

"If I were talking to a new writer coming to the genre in 2020, I would tell them, well, if you are an author of colour, you'd very likely only be paid a fraction of the advance that white writers are getting," she said.

"You'll be pigeonholed, you will be miscategorised, you will be lumped in with other authors of colour whose work doesn't remotely resemble yours.

"The chances are very high that you will be sexually harassed at conventions, or the target of racist microaggressions, or very often just overt racism. People will mispronounce your name repeatedly and in public, even people who are on your publishing team.

"Your cover art will be racist and you will have to push against that, and the way people talk about you and your literature will be tied to your identity and your personal trauma instead of the stories you're actually trying to tell.

"And if I had known all of that when I went into the industry, I don't know if I would have done it. So I think that the best way we can celebrate new writers is to make this industry more welcoming for everyone."

Rebecca F Kuang's The Poppy War and The Dragon Republic are available now, while her next book The Burning God is available to pre-order ahead of its release on November 26.

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