HBO and producers of "Game of Thrones" apologized Thursday for a scene that depicted former President George W. Bush's severed head on a spike.

The scene first aired last year and was repeated on a DVD release in March. But in a particularly bad piece of timing for HBO, stories about it spread online this week, when the network premiered a documentary on Bush's father, former President George H.W. Bush.

Bush's head was one of several on spikes in a scene where King Joffrey reveals to his fiancée the severed head of her father, who he had judged disloyal.

The former president's features on the prosthetic head were partially obscured by long, scraggly hair and the picture flashes by quickly. But in a commentary included with the DVD, producers Dan Weiss and David Benioff pointed out the Bush head.

The producers said they often order prosthetic body parts in bulk for "Game of Thrones" because it can be too expensive to make new ones. It wasn't until the scene was shot that someone pointed out the resemblance to Bush, they said.

Their DVD commentary mentioning the Bush head made its presence clear to any fans who might not have noticed it the first time around.

"We meant no disrespect to the former president and apologize if anything we said or did suggested otherwise," the producers said in a statement.

HBO, in a statement issued by spokesman Quentin Schaffer, said it was dismayed to learn about the Bush head. "We find it unacceptable, disrespectful and in very bad taste," the network said.

HBO said it has halted all further shipments of the DVD and removed reruns of the episode from its networks until the scene with the severed Bush head is edited out.

【新闻快讯】

本周四，美国HBO电视网为在热播剧《权力的游戏》第一季中前总统小布什头颅被砍下插在长杆上的场景道歉。这个场景出现在第一季中国王乔佛里让他的未婚妻珊莎去看她父亲的头颅，她的父亲因叛国罪被处死。

许多观众在第一次观看这个场景时没有认出这个头颅很像小布什。但在今年三月发行的《权力的游戏》第一季的DVD附带的说明中，制片人Dan Weiss 和 David Benioff指出这是小布什头颅的模型。

两位制片人表示，在拍摄过程中他们经常使用手头现成的旧人体模型，因为制作新的模型太贵了。而直到他们拍完这个场景，才有人指出这个头颅模型跟小布什有点像。制片人表示，这是无心之失，他们对小布什没有任何的不尊重，这一“选择”与政治无关，完全是预算限制的原因。为了尽可能的还原原著，剧集制作可谓相当的昂贵，“为了节约资金，我们只能是随便找了手头上有的人头（模型）。”

HBO电视网随后由发言人Quentin Schaffer发表一份声明，称HBO对拍摄中使用了小布什头颅模型感到震惊，并表示这种行为“让人难以接受、不够尊重、很低俗。” HBO表示在小布什头颅模型出现的镜头被剪掉之前，不会再出售新的DVD，也不会再其网路上播放这个片段。