New Wind in Sails of Our Flag Means Death Fan Campaign

A graphic depicting SaveOFMD Crew’s #Never Left initiative, which runs throughout the month of June.

WORLDWIDE, June 3 — As Pride flags are raised all around the world, fans of the acclaimed Max show Our Flag Means Death are proudly flying their rainbow-colored pirate flags. This Pride Month, fans fight back against the cancellation of Our Flag Means Death and other inclusive shows. Starting today, fan contingent Save OFMD Crew has launched the #NeverLeft initiative: a series of loud and proud online and offline actions, such as call-ins, social media floods, and a mail-in campaign targeting Max’s parent company Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). The goal? Pressuring Max to either renew or sell the show at a fair price by protesting the hypocrisy of corporate pride in the face of LGBTQ+ erasure in Hollywood.

According to GLAAD’s recent “Where We Are on TV” report, there has been a significant decrease in LGBTQ+ characters, 24% of which will not be returning to the screen due to series ending or being canceled.

Despite this clear indifference to representation, streamers and broadcasters love to show off their queer content during Pride Month. Fans, however, are sick of it. "Queer people don't just disappear when Pride Month is over," says Lisa Henry of Save OFMD Crew. "Our lives and stories continue to be relevant when July rolls around."

Our Flag Means Death has been widely praised for its unforced and unabashed diversity. Of the main characters, 84% are openly queer, 74% are over 40, 58% are BIPOC, and they have bodies of all sorts of shapes, sizes, and types. Behind the scenes, staff and writers represent diverse racial, ethnic, ability, gender, and sexual minority groups.

Particular criticism has been aimed at WBD CEO David Zaslav; during WBD's public First Quarter Earnings call, Zaslav boldly stated, “We got rid of a lot of content we didn’t think was gonna help us.” This seems to include an overwhelming amount of diverse programming. Our Flag Means Death, Rap Sh!t, and Julia are among the shows axed by Max despite critical acclaim and audience demand, in favor of widely panned, expensive properties such as And Just Like That and Velma. Nonetheless, Zaslav proclaimed, “That’s our mantra: The best content will win.”

Our Flag Means Death fans (and the stock market) seem to disagree with Zaslav on the definition of winning.

Fan campaigns have worked before. Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Timeless, Firefly, and, most famously, Star Trek, were all saved after successful fan campaigns. Our Flag Means Death seems predestined for such a fate, considering its critical acclaim — 94% on Rotten Tomatoes — and a built-in fan base which is willing to spend large sums on merchandise and grassroots advertising.

Our Flag Means Death deserves to be finished in the way creator David Jenkins intended. As Henry from Save OFMD Crew states, “Marginalized folks won’t settle for crumbs anymore. If studios want our money, they’ll have to finish our stories!”

For more on Save OFMD Crew, the fan campaign, and to  hear why Our Flag Means Death is important to fans, email contact@saveofmd.com or visit help.saveofmd.com.

A group of fans of Our Flag Means Death in front of the Vue billboard in Leicester Square, London.