'Them' on Amazon: Lena Waithe Faces Backlash for Racial Violence in New Series

The new horror series Them premiered on Amazon Prime Video this weekend and executive producer Lena Waithe is facing backlash on social media right now.

Lena became a trending topic on Twitter this weekend in reaction to a Los Angeles Times article that details the racial violence that is depicted in the series.

Them is a limited anthology series that explores terror in America. The 1950s set first season centers on a Black family who moves from North Carolina to an all-white Los Angeles neighborhood during the period known as The Great Migration. The family’s idyllic home becomes ground zero where malevolent forces, next-door and otherworldly, threaten to taunt, ravage and destroy them.

The LA Times article provides spoilers for something that happens in episode five and questions if the show goes “too far.”

Click inside to read about what happens…

The excerpt from the article that is getting lots of attention says, “While much of the menace in Them comes from things that go bump in the night, the most shocking horror lies in its more realistic scenes of racist violence, which are arguably more disturbing than the vivid images in its recent predecessors. The mayhem gains momentum in the fifth episode, which depicts the murder of a Black infant while his mother is raped and continues in a later episode with the blinding of a Black couple with hot pokers, and a white mob then burning them to death.”

Series creator Little Marvin told the paper that the violence was necessary.

“Yes, there is a concern, but at the end of the day, I as an artist have to sit with myself and grapple with the authenticity of the show,” he said. “If I can sleep at night knowing this entire enterprise has an authenticity and integrity to it, then I’m good.”

Read below to find out what people are saying on social media.