CNN’s film division announced that it will cancel its planned documentary about Hillary Clinton because of pressure from both opponents and supporters of Clinton. The film’s cancellation came after director Charles H. Ferguson removed himself from the project.
In a Huffington Post blog, Ferguson wrote that shortly after he was brought on to the project last year, Clinton’s press secretary “interrogated” him about the film’s content. After other conversations with people close to the former secretary of state, including her husband Bill Clinton, Ferguson said he recognized that they would not make themselves available because of the film’s potential coverage of her more controversial moments.
“But when I approached people for interviews, I discovered that nobody, and I mean nobody, was interested in helping me make this film,” he wrote. “After painful reflection, I decided that I couldn’t make a film of which I would be proud.”
When CNN first announced its plans to produce the documentary, Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus threatened to not allow the network to host any Republican primary debates for the 2016 presidential election. In a statement after CNN announced its cancellation, the RNC took much of the credit for the decision, and called on NBC to cancel its miniseries on Clinton as well.