Does the devil look like President Obama to you?
The character of Satan made his debut last night on the blockbuster miniseries “The Bible” and the Web is jumping today over how much the actor who plays him seems to resemble the President.
Were Mark Burnett and Roma Downey, the husband and wife producers of the epic, 10-hour series, trying to get a political statement?
“Utter nonsense,” says Burnett, in a statement issued a short while ago.
Dowey, in a separate statement, said she and Burnett 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.’ ”
The kerfuffle over Obama-as-Satan lookalike started last night when viewers began tweeting about the uncanny resemblance.
Conservative commentator Glenn Beck tweeted “Anyone else think the Devil in #TheBible Sunday on HIstory Channel looks exactly like That Guy?” and he linked to a photo of Obama.
By this morning, it was full-blown controversy — though few suggested the resemblance was more than a coincidence.
“The actor who played Satan, Mehdi Ouzaani, is a highly acclaimed Moroccan actor,” Burnett said.
“He has previously played parts in several Biblical epics — including Satanic characters long before Barack Obama was elected as our President.”
The scene with Satan was a short one, near the end of the two-hour episode, recreating the Temptation of Christ by the devil, who tried to coax Jesus into worshipping him — rather than God — by promising to make him king of the world.
The History channel tried to quell the furor by explaining the cast was racially diverse. In actuality, the actor is Moroccan.
“The series was produced with an international and diverse cast of respected actors,” the channel’s statement read. “It’s unfortunate that anyone made this false connection. History’s ‘The Bible’ is meant to enlighten people on its rich stories and deep history.”