HBO's New Chief Defends the Sexual Violence Against Women on 'Game of Thrones'

— -- "Game of Thrones" has long come under criticism for its graphic scenes of sexual violence against women, but HBO's new head of programming Casey Bloys disagrees that it's just female characters being turned into the victim.

"Using 'Game of Thrones,' violence is not just specific to women, it’s men and women. It’s indiscriminate, I would say, so I don’t think so," he said Saturday, according to Entertainment Weekly, when questioned by critics at the Television Critics Association's press tour in Beverly Hills. "I think it's violence in general. I don't know that it's specific to women. Men are killed as well."

Still, many pointed to last year's episode in Season 5, called "Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken," when Sansa Stark was raped on her wedding night.

During the Q&A, Bloys was asked again why women seem to be especially targeted in the Emmy Award-winning series more than men.

"I don’t necessarily see it as specific to women," Bloys volleyed back. "The point of is there a lot of violence in [HBO's forthcoming series] 'Westworld' and 'Game of Thrones?' Yes, but I don’t necessarily think that it's specifically isolated to women."

"No, you haven't seen men being raped," he added. "But the point I would make in 'Game of Thrones,' for example, is men are castrated. A guy is fed a cake made of his sons. The violence is pretty extreme on all fronts. I take your point that so far there have not been any male rapes, but my point is the violence is spread equally."

When one critic asked if men would eventually be depicted in the same sexually violent scenarios, Bloys deadpanned, "We’re going to kill everybody."

HBO confirmed that the seventh and final season of "Game of Thrones" will premiere in the summer of 2017. The new season of the show will include just seven episodes.