Executive Producers Mark Burnett and wife Roma Downey are catching some major heat because their Satan in Sunday night’s “The Bible” looks an awful lot like a certain U.S. president. The History Channel has responded, calling this a “false connection” and Burnett describing the connection as “nonsense.”
“HISTORY Channel has the highest respect for President Obama,” the network said in a statement, according to BuzzFeed. “The series was produced with an international and diverse cast of respected actors. 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.”
Satan made his debut on the History Channel’s “The Bible” this week, which keeps its story lines as close to those in its eponymous book, and viewers quickly pointed out that he was a doppelgänger for President Barack Obama.
“The Bible” has proved to be an extremely popular miniseries on The History Channel, with its debut on March 3 even besting “American Idol” in the ratings, garnering a whopping 13.1 million viewers.
Lucifer was played by Mehdi Ouazanni, who has actually had parts in four other Biblical films, including Leah’s husband in “The Ten Commandments,” a hotel manager in “The Hunt for the Hidden Relic,” a slave trader in “In the Beginning” and Michaiah in “Jeremiah.” But Ouazanni has never such a substantial role as in Burnett’s series.
“This is utter nonsense,” Burnett and wife/co-producer Roma Downey said Monday. “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.”
Downey added, “Both Mark and I 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.”
Many fans of ‘The Bible’ have taken to Twitter to express their thoughts about the (purposeful?) incident.
The White House has not commented on the resemblance.
