Showtime Shelved a ‘Vice’ Episode About Ron DeSantis’ Time at Guantanamo Bay out of Fear “of the Political Consequences”: Report

A new report claims Showtime buried an episode of Vice that investigated Florida Governor Ron DeSantis‘ time working as a Navy lawyer at Guantanamo Bay in 2006.

Semafor reports that Showtime pulled the episode “over fears of the political consequences,” according to sources close to the matter. A source also stated that the company’s Washington lobbyist, DeDe Lea, raised concerns over the allegations made in the episode about the U.S. governor and 2024 presidential hopeful.

According to Semafor, the episode included interviews with former detainee Mansoor Adayfi and staff sergeant Joe Hickman, who both claimed that they saw DeSantis at Guantanamo Bay “during a controversial hunger strike.”

The episode was titled “The Guantanamo Candidate.” A description listed on the Showtime website claimed it contained allegations from former detainees that DeSantis witnessed force-feedings, which are “condemned as torture by the UN,” during his time working at the detention camp, per Semafor.

The episode was all set to air days before its set date of Sunday, May 28, as part of the documentary series’ fourth season, but Vice began running into issues with the Showtime.

By that point, the episode had already been cleared by Vice’s legal team and Showtime executives, and promotional materials had already been shared. Four days before the episode’s premiere date, Showtime’s post-production staff let Vice know that “the broader network group teams are taking a deeper internal look at this Sunday’s episode, which will delay its premiere,” per Semafor.

The Showtime post-production team told them they would return to the episode later on in the season. But the company cut ties with Vice soon after; the episode was essentially scrubbed from their website and executives stopped communicating with the Vice employees involved with the show, per Semafor.

The Hollywood Reporter first reported on the news back in June, soon after the episode was meant to air. A statement from Vice at the time chalked the missing episode up to “scheduling changes,” while noting that they were “very much still in discussion about the scheduling of this episode. We are proud of our reporting and of our continuing partnership with Showtime.”

A spokesperson for Showtime simply said, “We don’t comment on scheduling decisions.”

The allegations made in the Vice episode echo specific moments that DeSantis recalled in a 2018 interview in which he stated that he gave officers at Guantanamo Bay legal advice regarding force-feeding.

“Hey, you actually can force-feed,” he recalling telling officers during his time there, per The Washington Post. “Here’s what you can do. Here’s kind of the rules for that.”

An investigation by The Post also found that the governor “had an up-close view of some of the most disturbing incidents at the detention camp during one of its most violent years.”

The Vice docuseries first got its start at HBO, where it earned the network two Emmy Awards before it was canceled in 2018. Showtime later picked it back up for additional seasons.

Vice was removed from Showtime and Paramount+ in July, though it wasn’t officially canceled since they still had half a season on order from Showtime, according to sources. Vice News is reportedly looking for a new home for the series.