Brazilian judge orders Netflix to remove 'gay Jesus' comedy

Rio judge’s ruling follows complaint that the ‘honour of millions of Catholics’ was hurt by The First Temptation of Christ

Staff and agencies
Thu 9 Jan 2020 12.10 GMT
Last modified on Thu 9 Jan 2020 16.17 GMT

A Brazilian judge on Wednesday ordered Netflix to stop showing a Christmas special that some called blasphemous for depicting Jesus as a gay man and which prompted a bomb attack on the satirists behind the programme.

The ruling by a Rio de Janeiro judge, Benedicto Abicair, responded to a petition by a Brazilian Catholic organisation that argued the “honour of millions of Catholics” was hurt by the airing of The First Temptation of Christ. The special was produced by the Rio-based film company Porta dos Fundos, whose headquarters was targeted in the Christmas Eve attack.

Netflix told the Associated Press it would not comment on the ruling. Porta dos Fundos also declined to comment on the judge’s decision, which contradicted an earlier decision rejecting censorship of the programme. The ruling is valid until another court orders otherwise.

Abicair said the programme’s withdrawal “is beneficial not only to the Christian community, but to Brazilian society which is mostly Christian”.

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