Following the recent reveal that Warner Bros. Discover had cancelled Batgirl to be able to claim it as a tax write-off instead of spending more money to put it in theaters, the company has continued to purge more of its content, this time aiming specifically for its animation department.
Because of this decision, HBO Max has now removed over 24 series from its library, including cult classics like OK KO, Infinity Train, Mao-Mao, Close Enough, Tig 'n Seek, and more, leaving physical copies of the shows and a few other streaming services as the only way to reliably watch them.
Those of us on the OK KO Krew are very thankful for everyone’s kind words over the last few days. It’s not confirmed if our show has actually been written off, but we know the fans will preserve this silly little cartoon & keep it alive. Thank you again for watching the show! pic.twitter.com/nG0zg3KTlx
— ianjq (@ianjq) August 19, 2022
— ianjq (@ianjq) August 19, 2022
OK KO creator Ian Jones-Quartey Tweeted, "Those of us on the OK KO Krew are very thankful for everyone’s kind words over the last few days. It’s not confirmed if our show has actually been written off, but we know the fans will preserve this silly little cartoon & keep it alive. Thank you again for watching the show".
Meanwhile, Infinity Train creator Owen Dennis updated his Twitter bio to read, "Creator of #InfinityTrain, a show that got pulled from HBOMax and can now only be pirated", as well as tweeting various frog reaction images to its removal.
One of the more sobering messages comes from Levon Jihanian, an art director for Tig 'n Seek, who said, "It's gone. They're all gone. Like, yeah. I can go on a pirate streaming web site to watch episodes, but my kids can't. I made this for them."
Another eye-opening response comes from Summer Camp Island creator Julia Pott, who said, "We worked for 5 years to make 100 episodes of animation. We worked late into the night, we let ourselves go, we were a family of hard working artists who wanted to make something beautiful, and HBO MAX just pulled them all like we were nothing. Animation is not nothing!"