The controversy over The First Temptation of Christ, the Brazilian film which depicts Jesus as a gay man, continues as the creators of the film, the comedy troupe Porta dos Fundos, has labeled protesters homophobic.
Protests against the film, which depicts Jesus as gay and Mary as smoking marijuana, began immediately after its December 3 release on Netflix. At the time of this writing, more than 2 million people have signed a petition to demand its removal.
Related: Is The Religious Right Ready For A Gay Jesus? (Hint: No)
Porta de Fundos co-founder Fábio Porchat, thus far, refuses to bow to the criticism. “It doesn’t incite violence, we’re not saying people shouldn’t believe in God,” Porchat told Variety. “[Netflix] haven’t said anything to us like, ‘Maybe we should stop making the special available.’ They support freedom of speech.” He goes on to say that people who actually watch the film understand the satirical points it makes. He also adds that the real cause of the trouble is homophobia.
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“For some Catholics here in Brazil, it’s O.K. if Jesus is a bad guy, uses drugs: That’s no problem,” Porchat says. “The problem is he’s gay. No, he can’t be gay. And that’s interesting because Jesus is everything. God is black and white and gay and straight. God is everything. It’s more homophobic to be insulted by a gay Jesus than to make Jesus special.”
Netflix has yet to announce any plans to remove the film from its library.
Rock-N-RollHS
Oh that jesus was a big cum slut! And thank God!
Andy
I watched the film and I thought it was poorly done and cheesy. I’m not religious but I did find it could be offensive to people of faith because it was crude. Now let the berating of me begin! haha
Henreid
Any “people of faith” whose religious beliefs are so easily offended by a silly movie must have very fragile faith indeed.
Den
There is no guarantee against being offended in this life, as any gay person should be well aware. There are no shortage of Christians out there who take offense at our very existence and find even the most innocent display of affection between two men to be “crude.” As is the case with this film, that’s there problem.
And, to be honest, taking offense is a personal choice. One can be offended by something or simply slough it off. It is in no way the same as a directed verbal attack, nor is it advocating violence against a group of people.
Den
(THEIR problem…not there problem. Damn, I’m so embarrassed!)
HappyGayMan
Unfortunately, I watched this show. My take was that it was sickeningly homophobic. Jesus is not depicted as gay–he is a guy who has been seduced by a gay man. That gay man turns out to be Satan and Jesus then kills him. How is this comedy? In fact, it reiterates the fundamentalist message that gays are satanic and deserved to be murdered. “The evil gay” is the default cardboard misrepresentation of LGBTQ people that has been used in film for generations. How can Netflix condone this?