HBO and producers of "Game of Thrones" apologized Thursday for a scene that depicted former President George W. Bush's severed head on a spike.

The scene first aired last year and was repeated on a DVD release in March. But in a particularly bad piece of timing for HBO, stories about it spread online this week, when the network premiered a documentary on Bush's father, former President George H.W. Bush.

Bush's head was one of several on spikes in a scene where King Joffrey reveals to his fiancée the severed head of her father, who he had judged disloyal.

The former president's features on the prosthetic head were partially obscured by long, scraggly hair and the picture flashes by quickly. But in a commentary included with the DVD, producers Dan Weiss and David Benioff pointed out the Bush head.

The producers said they often order prosthetic body parts in bulk for "Game of Thrones" because it can be too expensive to make new ones. It wasn't until the scene was shot that someone pointed out the resemblance to Bush, they said.

Their DVD commentary mentioning the Bush head made its presence clear to any fans who might not have noticed it the first time around.

"We meant no disrespect to the former president and apologize if anything we said or did suggested otherwise," the producers said in a statement.

HBO, in a statement issued by spokesman Quentin Schaffer, said it was dismayed to learn about the Bush head. "We find it unacceptable, disrespectful and in very bad taste," the network said.

HBO said it has halted all further shipments of the DVD and removed reruns of the episode from its networks until the scene with the severed Bush head is edited out.

【新聞快訊】

本周四，美國HBO電視網(wǎng)為在熱播劇《權(quán)力的游戲》第一季中前總統(tǒng)小布什頭顱被砍下插在長桿上的場景道歉。這個場景出現(xiàn)在第一季中國王喬佛里讓他的未婚妻珊莎去看她父親的頭顱，她的父親因叛國罪被處死。

許多觀眾在第一次觀看這個場景時沒有認(rèn)出這個頭顱很像小布什。但在今年三月發(fā)行的《權(quán)力的游戲》第一季的DVD附帶的說明中，制片人Dan Weiss 和 David Benioff指出這是小布什頭顱的模型。

兩位制片人表示，在拍攝過程中他們經(jīng)常使用手頭現(xiàn)成的舊人體模型，因為制作新的模型太貴了。而直到他們拍完這個場景，才有人指出這個頭顱模型跟小布什有點(diǎn)像。制片人表示，這是無心之失，他們對小布什沒有任何的不尊重，這一“選擇”與政治無關(guān)，完全是預(yù)算限制的原因。為了盡可能的還原原著，劇集制作可謂相當(dāng)?shù)陌嘿F，“為了節(jié)約資金，我們只能是隨便找了手頭上有的人頭（模型）?！?/p>

HBO電視網(wǎng)隨后由發(fā)言人Quentin Schaffer發(fā)表一份聲明，稱HBO對拍攝中使用了小布什頭顱模型感到震驚，并表示這種行為“讓人難以接受、不夠尊重、很低俗?！?HBO表示在小布什頭顱模型出現(xiàn)的鏡頭被剪掉之前，不會再出售新的DVD，也不會再其網(wǎng)路上播放這個片段。