Religious folks are rallying together against a Netflix comedy that features a gay Jesus.
The First Temptation of Christ is a Brazilian Christmas film that follows the story of Jesus bringing home his boyfriend, Orlando, to meet his parents as part of his 30th birthday aka Christmas.
Judging by the trailer (which is in Portuguese), the celebration quickly devolves into a comedy of errors, with Orlando holding nothing back as he greets Jesus’s parents and the whole Biblical gang as the flamboyant bf he so clearly is.
But this satirical depiction of Jesus as a — gasp — homosexual didn’t sit will with people who don’t appreciate humor or seem to think a comedy film with a fictional gay Jesus character is trying to insinuate the “real” Jesus of the Bible was also gay.
A petition launched by Alex Brindejoncy to convince Netflix to remove the film from their streaming service has gained almost 1.4 million signatures as of December 13. The petition also calls for the comedy troupe that created the film, Porta dos Fundos (or, Back Door), to be held responsible for offending Christians, or something that roughly translates to “the crime of villainous faith” if you trust Google Translate.
According to The Advocate, Porta dos Fundos has previously been sued over other satires by the notably anti-LGBTQ federal deputy representative of São Paulo, Marco Feliciano. Feliciano jumped into the debate surrounding The First Temptation of Christ by complaining that the group’s films can’t be banned because of that horrible thing called “freedom of expression.”
While calls for the films removal continue, if you want to enjoy a gay Jesus Christmas, you can hop right on over to Netflix and have yourself a holly jolly romp through temptation and sin.
