‘Queer as Folk’ Is the Latest Show That Needs a Mass-Shooting Warning

The hottest trend in entertainment is...horrific massacres?

Peacock is joining Netflix and Disney+ in the ranks of shows that have found themselves in a bit of a crisis thanks to scenes including graphic violence. Following the likes of Stranger Things and Obi-Wan Kenobi, next week’s debut of Queer as Folk will include a warning card ahead of the first episode, which depicts a terrible tragedy inside of a nightclub.

The decision to include the card comes after last week’s mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, which left 21 dead at an elementary school. After the events unfolded, a handful of series had to make a change to upcoming programming.

Along with Stranger Things, which began its fourth season on a string of children’s deaths, FBI had to toss its season finale, which also dealt with a mass shooting, and Obi-Wan Kenobi included a brief note after its opening scene featured Storm Troopers opening fire on a Jedi School. Even Abbott Elementary’s Quinta Brunson had to face strangers online demanding a school shooting episode of the popular ABC comedy.

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Queer as Folk is a LGBT-focused drama. Stranger Things is a horror-fantasy. Obi-Wan falls under adventure (and isn’t even set in our country—let alone our galaxy). FBI is a crime series. While it’s true that gun violence is an awfully present issue in America, the growing amount of shows depicting such harrowing events has become sadistic. No one wants to watch this.

But while Stranger Things and FBI really only had one episode to deal with, the entire first season of Queer as Folk will be focused on a shooting in the show’s fictionalized nightclub, Babylon. While it’s as relevant as ever, the show’s main storyline (per the trailer and logline) might be triggering to some folks as it follows characters as they pick up the pieces after the tragedy.

Here’s the warning, per The Hollywood Reporter, that Queer as Folk viewers will encounter when the show debuts next week: “Queer as Folk is a fictional series about the vibrant LGBTQ community in New Orleans rebuilding after a devastating tragedy. Some viewers may find elements of the first episode distressing as it depicts the aftermath of a shooting. Our hearts go out to all of those affected by these senseless tragedies.”

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The new show will be based in 2022, a reimagining of Russell T. Davies 2000’s Showtime series of the same name. The initial series included a bombing at the Babylon club, which has now been transformed into a shooting sequence in light of the slew mass shootings in America.

The show’s new creator Stephen Dunn said that he invited survivors from the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting to the creative team in order to make the show as realistic as possible. A handful of the survivors served as consultants on the series.

“Pulse is a specific event that targeted the Latinx community in Orlando. Our show is completely fictional, but the trajectory of our story is inspired by the realities of what that was like—not just that night, but the aftermath and the way that the community of Orlando rebuilt in the wake of that tragedy,” Dunn told THR of Queer as Folk. “These are real people and they’re not victims. They survived a tragedy, and they are human beings whose lives were completely turned upside down after this.”

Queer as Folk will debut on Peacock on June 9.

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