Executive Producers of “The Bible,” Mark Burnett and wife Roma Downey, chided the media for focusing more on the character Satan’s resemblance to President Obama than on the character Jesus during an interview with Oprah that aired Sunday night.
After the popular History Channel miniseries introduced the character Satan, social media was buzzing about how Lucifer was a dead-ringer for Obama.
“I was horrified,” Downey told Oprah. “The night before that broke in the news, Jesus had made his first appearance on the screen, and I was so looking forward to Monday and knowing that Jesus would be on the lips of everyone.”
“For Satan to be the point of conversation was really heartbreaking,” she continued. “We love the president, we have nothing but respect for the president. We felt somehow hijacked.”
Following the initial controversy, The HISTORY Channel issued a statement explaining it also only had the “highest respect for President Obama.”
“The series was produced with an international and diverse cast of respected actors,” the network said. “It’s unfortunate that anyone made this false connection.”
Downey said they had screened the miniseries to thousands of people before it aired and no one voiced any concern about the similarity between Satan and the United States president.
But, while Downey still seems hung up on the Satan/Obama mix-up, her husband Burnett shrugged it off and said it’s just part of putting yourself out there.
“If you’re gonna do what we do for a living, which is stick your neck out there,” Burnett told Oprah during the interview. “It’s a free country and you got to accept that.”
Watch an excerpt from the interview below.
Preview: Mark Burnett and Roma Downey Discuss The Bible
Oprah sits down with Emmy award-winning producer Mark Burnett and his wife, Emmy-nominated actress Roma Downey, to discuss their latest project, the television phenomenon The Bible. Plus, Oprah speaks with the actor who portrays Jesus, Diogo Morgado.
