#Oscarssowhite creator wants to stop HBO's Confederate: 'We are not going away'

The instigator of the #oscarssowhite campaign is hoping to use her social media savvy for another cause: stopping HBO's Confederate before it even has a script.

April Reign, an American activist and former lawyer whose popular Oscars hashtagin 2015 and 2016 reneweddebate about the lack of diversity in Hollywood, is calling on the Twitterverse to express itsconcern over the upcoming series using #noconfederate.

Modern-day slavery legal in series

Confederate has sparked outrage since its premise was announced last week. The series, which does not have any scripts, character names or plot details yet, will takeplace in an alternate reality in which the American Civil War had a different outcome and slavery remains legal. It's set in the present day.

• Game of Thrones creators respond to backlash over Confederate announcement

"The commodification of black pain for the enjoyment of others must stop," Reign told CBC News."The prison industrial complex is bursting with black and brown people, disproportionate to the crimes committed. Sofor some, Confederate is not alternate history,but a painful and recent reminder of how much further we still need to go toward equality."

Co-writers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, who are behind the wildly popular HBO fantasy series Game of Thrones, will take the lead for the new show, along withThe Good Wife's Nichelle Tramble Spellmanand Empire's Malcolm Spellman, who will work aswriters and executive producers.

'Judge the actual material,' says HBO

According to several media outlets, HBO addressed the controversy at a presentation during the Television Critics' Association in Los Angeles this week, saying the show's initial announcement in apress releasewas a "misguided" decision thatdidn't consider the sensitivity of the issue nor offer enoughcontext.

"My hope is people will judge the actual material instead of what it could be or should be or might be," HBO programming president Casey Bloys said Wednesday.

Confederatedoesn't have a release date yet, and isn't scheduled to start production until Game of Thrones ends its final season in 2018 or 2019.

Benioff and Weiss told the entertainment outletVulturethey hoped the science-fiction series wouldadvance discussions about current race relations "in a way no strictly realistic drama ever could."

Criticism prevents confidence

Despite Game of Thrones' success and record-breaking 38 Emmy wins, Reign said she doesn't have confidence in the writing teaminvolved with Confederate,given previouscriticism against Thrones"not only for its gratuitous depiction of rape, but also the lack of diversity."

The fantasy series facedbacklash during its fifth seasonfor a particularly brutal sexual assault scene against Sansa Stark, played by Sophie Turner. Ithas also faced ongoing condemnationforits primarily white cast.

Reign, along with agroup of activists, iscalling on people to tweet during Sunday's Game of Thrones episode and says the purpose of the social media push is to prevent HBO from spending any more money or time on the show.

"It is better for them to cancel this idea now, while still in its infancy,than to expend potentially millions of dollars per episode and face an even bigger backlash during its premiere," she told CBC. "We are not going away."

After Reign'sOscars So White hashtagtook off, the film academy invited a significant number of new and diverse membersin 2016 to help boost its percentage of female and minority voters.