Two million people are pissed about a new comedy special on Netflix, in which biblical characters are depicted unlike ever before. In the Brazilian film, created by Youtube comedy troupe Porta dos Fundos, the character of Jesus Christ is a gay man, who brings home his boyfriend to introduce to his family on his 30th birthday. The film also shows Mary smoking weed.
Despite the lighthearted nature of the film, many took issue with its depiction of Jesus as gay, and even started a petition on Change.org asking Netflix to remove the film from its catalogue. The petition also requests that the comedy troupe "to be held responsible for the crime of villainous faith" and to issue a "public retraction" for "seriously offending Christians." However, both Porta dos Fundos and Netflix are refusing to back down. "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 comedy crew told PEOPLE in a statement. Fábio Porchat, a co-founder of Porta dos Fundos, also emphasized that Netflix is totally on board with the comedy special as well, as "they support freedom of speech." He told Variety, "It doesn’t incite violence, we’re not saying people shouldn’t believe in God." The film is currently still up on Netflix, so only time will tell if this petition will have any effect on the streaming service.
