UPDATE: Just a few minutes ago, producers Mark Burnett and Roma Downey released a statement in response to the controversy:
“This is utter nonsense. The actor who played Satan, Mehdi Ouzaani, is a highly acclaimed Moroccan actor. He has previously played parts in several Biblical epics – including Satanic characters long before Barack Obama was elected as our President. [We] have nothing but respect and love our President, who is a fellow Christian. False statements such as these are just designed as a foolish distraction to try and discredit the beauty of the story of The Bible.”
And the History Channel also added its own statement:
“History Channel has the highest respect for President Obama. The series was produced with an international and diverse cast of respected actors. It’s unfortunate that anyone made this false connection. History’sThe Bible is meant to enlighten people on its rich stories and deep history.”
And here’s the original post on the matter:
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Bah Humbug! I don’t really know what to say about this, so I’m just going to throw it out to you folks, and ask for your thoughts; maybe you all can enlighten me today.
My initial reaction was, are we seeing things that really aren’t there, because we’re looking for them, or is there a genuine conspiracy at work (or play) here?
Here’s the report courtesy of THR:
A major hit already, History Channel’s 10-part miniseries The Bible is stirring up extra attention for its casting. The role of Satan, i.e. the bad guy, is played by the actor Mohamen Mehdi Ouazanni, who, thanks to makeup and other production tricks, bears a startling resemblance to President Barack Obama.
The resemblance was pointed out on Twitter while the show still aired on Sunday. Glenn Beck, the Christian conservative broadcaster who has called the series “one of the most important shows in decades,” sent out a tweet with a screenshot. Beck, who refuses to use Obama’s name, referred to the president as “That Guy.”
The photo comparison is above, obviously.
No response yet from the producers of the series (Mark Burnett and his wife, Roma Downey).
As THR notes, Burnett has given to Democratic candidates, including Obama in 2008 and the DNC in 2009, while his wife, Downey, doesn’t publicly identifying with any party, but has been very puclic about being a devout Catholic.
So what do guys think? Much ado about nothing, or this was an intentional jab?
I haven’t been keeping up with the series (I really have only watched the episode with Nonso Anozie as Samson), but I’ve read lots of commentary on Twitter and Facebook about how the *good* people within these bible stories are primarily played by fairer-skinned actors, and the *bad* characters are played by darker-skinned actors. Is this something you’ve noticed, if you’ve been following the series? Is it Hollywood business as usual, as I’ve read some say?
I recall last year, when HBO and the Game of Thrones producers
had to apologize using a prosthetic decapitated head that looked
suspiciously like President George W. Bush, in an episode, which was
caught by bloggers, and caused quite a stir. Is this a similar situation?
Dig in with all your thoughts on any or everything question I’ve posed above, in the comments section below:
