Never one to mince words or shy away from criticizing other people’s devotions, author Salman Rushdie came out swinging in a recent interview with Israeli website Haaretz, discussing the upcoming series he’s scripting for Showtime by putting a few of his would-be competitors in their place. Rushdie says he’s been brushing up on cable dramas to prepare, and although he spoke favorably of The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, Dexter, and Deadwood, he didn’t have totally kind words for two other oft-vaunted shows: “There was a series called Game of Thrones which was very popular here in the United States, a post-Tolkien kind of thing,” Rushdie says. “It was garbage, yet very addictive garbage—because there's lots of violence, all the women take their clothes off all the time, and it's kind of fun. In the end, it's well-produced trash, but there's room for that, too." Clearly on a roll, Rushdie even went after cable television’s most sacred cow: “Everybody loves The Wire and I think it's okay, but in the end it's just a police series,” Rushdie says. See? This is the sort of cockiness that surviving a fatwa encourages. [via Vulture]
UPDATE: After no doubt getting several jokey-but-still-angry "fatwa" tweets sent in his direction, Rushdie has since addressed his comments on Twitter, pointing out to Vulture that he just said he likes these two shows less than all of the other shows, and comparing the reaction to his comments to the outcry over George H.W. Bush's professed dislike of broccoli. ("I guess The Wire is my broccoli," he adds.) He also says he'll give another series of The Wire a shot and "hope to change my mind," which he hopes is enough to get everyone off his back. But then he also goes and names Entourage one of his favorite comedies, so that's probably not going to happen.