(LEX 18)- The co-creator of “The Walking Dead” has responded to comments made by Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin in reference to violence in the media.
The governor’s comments specifically singled out “zombie” culture.
In a radio show, Bevin said that mass shootings are indicative of a deeper issue of a culture that celebrates death with zombie-based TV shows and abortions.
Both Tony Moore and Robert Kirkman created the graphic novel series “The Walking Dead.” Moore addressed the governor’s statements in a post on his official website. You can read the statement in full here.
“…when I read that Governor Matt Bevin decided to put “The Walking Dead” on blast, I was particularly wounded. He posits that it is a “celebration of death,” and such media is a societal ill, responsible for this ongoing wave of shootings and violence. This line didn’t fly in the ‘80s when Tipper Gore tried it, and it doesn’t fly with me now. As a nerdy kid on an isolated farm, I grew up a fan of escapism. Horror movies and comics, over the top action movies, comics, and video games. Heavy metal and gangsta rap music, Dungeons & Dragons, you name it, I was in. I wear these influences unashamed, and they spill out into my work all the time. As a kid, my high school principal called me into the office, concerned about the nefarious mind-bending effects of roleplaying games, despite his knowing that I was at the top of my class with nothing but awards and service in my record. Thankfully, my mother didn’t throttle my media intake, and I was a sponge for it all, using it as grist for my creative mill. These things swirled in my little mind and formed me into the person I am today, which includes being a community-minded citizen, and devoted husband and father. Bevin’s words paint fandom as a degenerate sensibility, when I have only ever known kindness and generosity from them…”
Moore went on to say that his stories were celebrations of survival and hope.
