{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cotton-colleagues-condemn-amazon-for-removing-justice-clarence-thomas-documentary", "Cotton, Colleagues Condemn Amazon for Removing Justice Clarence Thomas Documentary", "2021-04-29", "2021", "2021-04", "Republican", "Senate", "AR", "Tom Cotton", "C001095", "www.cotton.senate.gov", "cotton", "https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases", "scraper", "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE\n\nContact: James Arnold or Mary Collins Atkinson (202) 224-2353\n\nApril 29, 2021\n\nCotton, Colleagues Condemn Amazon for Removing Justice Clarence Thomas Documentary\n\nWashington, D.C. \u2014 Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas), along with Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky), today led a group of 19 senators in a letter to Jeffrey Bezos questioning why Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words, a documentary about the life of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, was removed from Amazon\u2019s streaming service. The film\u2019s removal came during Black History Month.\n\nIn part, the senators wrote, \u201cThe film's popularity aside, Amazon's decision to pull this documentary came during Black History Month-a time when Amazon was celebrating its own effort to \u2018Amplify Black Voices\u2019 with a \u2018collection of titles to honor Black History Month across four weekly themes (Black Love, Black Joy, Black History Makers, and Black Girl Magic).\u2019\u201d\n\n\u201cAmazon's decision to cancel from its streaming service a documentary that celebrates the longest-serving and highest-ranking African American public servant in America suggests that what Amazon actually seeks to do is \u2018Amplify Liberal Black Voices,\u2019 while silencing any who disagree-including and especially the great Justice Clarence Thomas, a genuine \u2018Black History Maker,\u2019\u201d the senators continued.\n\nSenator Cotton was joined on the letter by Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) and Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee), John Boozman (R-Arkansas), Mike Braun (R-Indiana), Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Kevin Cramer (R-North Dakota), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Steve Daines (R-Montana), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma), James Lankford (R-Oklahoma), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Roger Marshall (R-Kansas), Rick Scott (R-Florida), John Thune (R-South Dakota), Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina), and Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi).\n\nThe full text of the letter is here and below.\n\nMr. Jeffrey Bezos\n\nChief Executive Officer\n\nAmazon.com, Inc.\n\n410 Terry Avenue North\n\nSeattle, WA 98109\n\nDear Mr. Bezos:\n\nWe write concerning Amazon's latest effort to target conservative Americans. On February 8, 2021, in the middle of Black History Month, Amazon removed from its streaming service the critically acclaimed film, Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words-a documentary about the inspirational life of Justice Clarence Thomas, one of our greatest living Americans and the longest-serving African American in the history of the United States Supreme Court.\n\nCreated Equal tells the uniquely American story of Clarence Thomas's rise from poverty in rural Georgia to serving on the highest Court in the land, where he has spent three decades as the Constitution's staunchest defender. PBS broadcast the documentary nationally, and more than 92% of its 1600 Amazon reviews gave the documentary five stars. The documentary was significantly outperforming other comparable documentaries, including documentaries on liberal Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Thurgood Marshall. The popular demand for Created Equal was so strong that, even after Amazon made the film unavailable to rent or buy through the streaming service, the film's DVD sales hit #1 in the \"Documentary\" category and #16 in the \"Movies & TV\" category.\n\nThe film's popularity aside, Amazon's decision to pull this documentary came during Black History Month-a time when Amazon was celebrating its own effort to \"Amplify Black Voices\" with a \"collection of titles to honor Black History Month across four weekly themes (Black Love, Black Joy, Black History Makers, and Black Girl Magic).\" Amazon's decision to cancel from its streaming service a documentary that celebrates the longest-serving and highest-ranking African American public servant in America suggests that what Amazon actually seeks to do is \"Amplify Liberal Black Voices,\" while silencing any who disagree-including and especially the great Justice Clarence Thomas, a genuine \"Black History Maker.\"\n\nElsewhere in Amazon Prime's movie descriptions, Amazon celebrates the FBI's most wanted terrorist Joanne Chesimard, who murdered a state trooper in cold blood, as a \"fantastic feminine freedom fighter\" and hails the Weather Underground-a literal terrorist group-as \"radical politics at its best[.]\" Both films remain available for streaming today.\n\nThese decisions suggest that Amazon removes documentaries that feature conservatives while keeping documentaries that celebrate criminals and terrorists. And despite repeated inquiries by media outlets, the filmmakers, and would-be viewers, Amazon appears to have made no effort to explain otherwise.\n\nAs members of the U.S. Senate, we have jurisdiction over issues relating to antitrust, technology, the First Amendment, and censorship. We therefore request answers to the following questions:\n\nWhy did Amazon remove Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words from its video streaming service?\n\nWhen was the decision made to remove Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words from the video streaming service?\n\nWho made the decision to remove Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words from the Amazon video streaming service?\n\nPlease provide your written response as soon as possible, but no later than 5:00 PM on May 13, 2021. Please also arrange for a staff briefing on this matter by contacting Matt Downer at (202) 224-2353. Thank you for your attention to this concerning matter.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:42:19Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cotton-colleagues-condemn-amazon-for-removing-justice-clarence-thomas-documentary"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.6670090369880199, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}