Almost two million sign petition calling for ban on Netflix film depicting Jesus as gay
Brazilian comedy 'The First Temptation of Christ' has sparked outrage at home and abroad.
By Will Stroude
Words: Will Stroude
A new Netflix film has sparked outrage for depicting Jesus Christ as a gay man.
Almost two million people have signed a Change.org petition calling for Brazilian comedy The First Temptation of Christ, which is available to stream on Netflix UK, to be removed from the platform and banned for ‘offending Christians’.
Produced by Bazilian YouTube comedy group Porta dos Fundos, the 46-minute film shows Jesus returning home for a surprise 30th birthday with his male ‘friend’, Orlando.
The outrage over The First Temptation of Christ has been concentrated mainly in Brazil, where high-ranking public officials condemed its existence,
According to Stuff, Brazilian Bishop Henrique Soares da Costa announced he had deleted his Netflix account in protest against the “blasphemous, vulgar” movie.
With The Crown season three having just arrived Henrique? No loving God would want that.
Meanwhile, Eduardo Bolsonaro, the son of the Brazil’s viciously racist and homophobic president, Jair Bolsonaro, also blasted the film on social media, writing: “We support freedom of expression, but is it worth attacking the belief of 86 percent of the population?”
Despite the backlash from frothing-mouted religious zealots, the producers of The First Temptation of Christ are remaining defiant, telling The Sun in a statement: “We value artistic freedom and humour through satire on the most diverse cultural themes of our society and believes that freedom of expression is an essential construction for a democratic country.”