Netflix is facing conservative backlash over a Brazilian Christmas comedy special called “The First Temptation of Christ,” which depicts Jesus as gay.
More than 1.8 million people have signed the petition, which calls for the special to be prohibited and pulled from Netflix and for Porta dos Fundos to apologize. Viewers have accused Porta dos Fundos of religious discrimination and “derision and disrespect for the faith of the Catholic Church and especially for God.”
Marco Feliciano, a conservative evangelical pastor who is president of the Brazilian Legislature’s Commission on Human Rights and Minorities, tweeted his disdain for the special.
“Christians and non-Christians have asked me to take action against the irresponsible members of Porta dos Fundo. It’s time we took a collective action — churches and all good people — to put an end to this,” the tweet reads in English.
The petition had yet to reach its goal of 3 million signatures by Monday afternoon.
One commenter — who claimed to cancel their Netflix subscription entirely in protest — wrote: “No one is obliged to believe in Jesus Christ, but we demand respect for our beliefs. Whoever disrespects my God does not deserve my money.”
