"Game Of Thrones" has been criticized by many for airing graphic scenes of sex, violence and rape, but Michael Lombardo, HBO's president of programming, argued that the showrunners have always stayed true to George R.R. Martin's novel series "A Song of Ice and Fire," in which the hit fantasy drama series is based.

"I personally don't see myself as a libertine," Lombardo said at the Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival, according to The Guardian. "I don't think [graphic scenes] have ever been without any purpose. Dan [Weiss] and Dave [Benioff] are two very sober, thoughtful men. They have books as a map, which involve wars, violence, sex. We have certainly not given them an edict or a note that they need to tone down the sexual content in the show."

The show's Season 4 Episode 3 titled "Breaker of Chains" featured a scene involving the character of Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) raping his twin sister, Cersei (Lena Heady). The scene which was an unwarranted departure from Martin's books - where the two characters were described to have a consensual sex - made headlines, sparking criticism and debate about sexual violence among viewers.

"I appreciate there was some controversy and it generated a conversation about what consensual sex is and isn't," Lombardo said of the issue. "People responsible for programming have two responsibilities. To be responsible, not to have sex and violence that's gratuitous. That is certainly not who we are. At the same time we don't want to be a censor that inhibits the authentic organic creative process by policing how many breasts should be on a show."

Martin also addressed the controversial scene on his personal blog, explaining:

"I think the 'butterfly effect' that I have spoken of so often was at work here. In the novels, Jaime is not present at Joffrey's death, and indeed, Cersei has been fearful that he is dead himself, that she has lost both the son and the father/ lover/ brother. And then suddenly Jaime is there before her. Maimed and changed, but Jaime nonetheless. Though the time and place is wildly inappropriate and Cersei is fearful of discovery, she is as hungry for him as he is for her."

Lombardo also pointed out that HBO is a pay-TV service, so it has more freedom than free-to-air broadcasters.

"It is an adult service," he said. "Our subscribers pay a fee for uncensored shows. As long as I feel that [violence] isn't the reason [people] are watching the show, that it isn't a show trying to attract viewers with sex and violence, I am not going to play police."

Meanwhile, in a May interview with Time, Michael Hirst, creator of rival History Channel show "Vikings," said that "Game of Thrones" is a soft porn.

"It is soft porn, and it has a lot of gratuitous stuff in it," Hirst said of the HBO show. "But it's still very well-written."

"Game of Thrones" returns on HBO in 2015.