Photo:readysteadycut
Over 1.5 million people have signed a petition asking streamer Netflix to take down a film that allegedly shows Jesus in a gay relationship.
Canada condemns Netflix for using rail disaster images
‘The First Temptation of Christ’, a Portuguese language film released in Brazil by Netflix on December 3, has created an uproar for its depiction of a gay relationship between Jesus and his friend Orlando. The film also reportedly shows Mary, mother of Jesus, smoking weed.
The petition, started on Change.org, has so far collected 1,529,504 signatures. It calls upon Netflix to remove the movie, made by comedy sketch group Porta dos Fundos (Backdoor in English).
"For removing the film from the Netflix catalog and for the Backdoor to be held responsible for the crime of villainous faith. We also want public retraction, as they have seriously offended Christians," read the plea.
Meanwhile, Porta dos Fundos, which has over 16.2 million YouTube subscribers and 9.3 million followers on Facebook, has defended the film. "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, obtained by Yahoo! Entertainment.
Despite several attempts, Netflix is yet to react on the furore surrounding the film.
