Can a judge rule that a film is too controversial to be shown on a streaming site? That’s the question that is now being asked after a recent ruling in Brazil. Netflix and the filmmakers behind a controversial religious satire, titled “The First Temptation of Christ,” have recently come under fire in Brazil due to its so-called blasphemous content depicting a gay Jesus Christ.
According to the AP, Rio de Janeiro judge Benedicto Abicair ruled that “The First Temptation of Christ” should be removed from Netflix in Brazil due to its content. The judge responded to a recent petition that asked for the streaming service to remove the program from its listings after it was shown to insinuate that Jesus Christ might have been gay.
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Abicair said that the removal of the program “is beneficial not only to the Christian community but to Brazilian society which is mostly Christian.”
The synopsis for the comedy reads:
“Jesus, who’s hitting the big 3-0, brings a surprise guest to meet the family. A Christmas special so wrong, it must be from comedians Porta dos Fundos.”
Sure, you can definitely see where a Christian group might be offended by that. Of course, being offended by something isn’t necessarily grounds for a judge to order the film be removed from a private company’s subscription-based streaming service.
This isn’t the first time that the film was targeted. On Christmas Eve, the headquarters of the production company behind the film, Porta dos Fundos, was hit with a gasoline bomb due to the controversial film.
Netflix hasn’t released a statement about the ruling, but it’ll be interesting to see if this film starts a precedent that could have a cascading effect on some of the other programs offered by the streaming service. You can watch the trailer for the film on the official Netflix site.