Film

Netflix Says Sorry, But Keeps Quebec Blast Footage in ‘Bird Box’

Company says it can’t make changes on finished content
Use of stock footage shocked town where 47 died in tragedy

The scene of a freight train accident in Lac-Megantic, Quebec in July 2013.Photographer: Franois Laplante-Delagrave/AFP via Getty Images

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By Sandrine Rastello

January 22, 2019 at 11:26 PM UTC

Netflix Inc. apologized for inadvertently using images of a deadly Quebec rail disaster in “Bird Box,” but it won’t be removing the controversial footage from its hit horror movie.

In a letter to Quebec Culture Minister Nathalie Roy that was shared with Bloomberg, the entertainment company said it wasn’t aware of the stock footage’s source and expressed regret at the suffering caused to the community of Lac-Megantic, where 47 people died in a 2013 accident.