Documentaries are often about very unpleasant topics, perhaps the majority are, but A&E Network came in for a good kicking earlier in the week after Grey’s Anatomy star Ellen Pompeo (random, I know) went on a Twitter rant about its upcoming new show Generation KKK.

A&E quickly insisted that its docuseries was in no way trying to promote, relate to or give a platform to, the racists it depicts, and has since doubled down this with a tweet that states: “Generation KKK documents activists working to expose and end hatred. In the KKK, hatred is passed down as legacy. It must stop.”

The network worked closely with the ADL, which seeks to stop the defamation of Jewish people, on the series, posting a trailer in which an anti-Klan activist declares: “This generation will be the last generation that has to deal with this nonsense.”

When the show was announced on Tuesday, Pompeo called for a boycott of the network, tweeting: “Shame on you @AETV.

“Hey I have an idea...why don't we all never watch ANYTHING on A&E again who's with me????

“Maybe @AETV you should just run episodes of @GreysABC [Grey’s Anatomy] instead... we are smarter more compassionate and oh yeah way better looking.”

Another Twitter user replied: “It’s a doc series. I don't think intention is to glorify kkk. Pretending the klan isn't alive and well is foolish.”

But Pompeo ploughed on: “We shouldn't be giving ignorance a platform we already did that this year and look what it got us.”