Netflix comedy depicts Jesus as gay, angering Christians

Dec 13

Article By Antoinette Pierce // EEW Magazine // Entertainment

Jesus loves everybody, whether gay, straight, or fluid. However, the savior of the world certainly wasn’t gay.

Even so, a comedy group based in Brazil thought it would be hilarious to depict Jesus as gay in a Netflix Christmas special. But instead of inciting laughter, the creators have incited outrage, seeing over one million Christians petitioning for its removal from the streaming platform.

The “First Temptation of Christ,” which debuted on Netflix Brazil on Dec. 3, is a politically incorrect satire painting Jesus as a closeted homosexual on Christmas, and as of Friday morning, 1.34 million people signed a petition to get the 46-minute holiday special taken down.

The plot goes like this: Jesus and a friend named Orlando attend Jesus’ birthday party at his parents’ Mary and Joseph’s house, according to the New York Daily News. Jesus tries to downplay his relationship with Orlando who keeps hinting that the two are more than just platonic friends.

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Netflix says the comedy group Porta dos Fundos produced the special, which is their second religious satire. Their first was “The Last Hangover”—that won an International Emmy Award for best comedy web television special—about Jesus’ disciples seeking for him the morning after the Last Supper.

The removal petition has gained incredible momentum online as more people continue to sign it and urge the popular streaming service to take action action against what many view as insensitivity toward Christians.

According to Yahoo Entertainment, Porta dos Fundos, undaunted by the outcry and criticism, posted a tweet linking to a different petition calling for its removal from Netflix sarcastically blasting their own comedy special as “tragic and sad.”

“Porta dos Fundos values artistic freedom and humor 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,” the group said in a statement.

Is it artistic freedom or sacrilege?

“The First Temptation of Christ” is available to U.S. Netflix subscribers.