Obama Satan Look-Alike Was Not Intentional, Says History
Did you think that Satan looked an awful lot like President Obama on last night’s episode of The Bible? If so, it’s all in your head according to The History Channel.
Controversy dusted up early Monday morning over Sunday’s episode of The Bible, which depicted Satan portrayed by actor Mohamen Mehdi Ouazanni. Viewers took to Twitter almost immediately to allege that the role was cast with an actor who looks suspiciously like our Commander in Chief, President Barack Obama.
We reported on the Obama Satan look-alike earlier today and had to admit that the resemblance was pretty uncanny. Even conservative pundit Glenn Beck curiously pointed it out on his Twitter feed.
Just hours after the controversy started to stir, The History Channel released a statement in which they said that the resemblance was in no way intentional and that they wouldn’t dare disrespect the president in such a way intentionally.
The statement read, in part:
“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’s The Bible is meant to enlighten people on its rich stories and deep history.”
The Bible‘s executive producers Mark Burnett and Roman Downey also sounded off on the controversy:
“This is utter nonsense,” said Burnett. “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.”
A peek at his IMDb page shows that Ouazanni has played villainous characters throughout his career, but whether he has played “Satanic” characters wasn’t readily apparent to this author.
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.”
Glenn Beck clarified his thoughts on the controversy this morning as well:
Media – relax. Actor has been in similar roles b4. Funny, nothing more. For different reasons, #TheBible is 1 of my fav shows. Keep watching
— Glenn Beck (@glennbeck) March 18, 2013
The Biblecontinues to be ratings gold for The History Channel, and, if nothing else, this morning’s Obama Satan look-alike controversy will undoubtedly drive up interest in the five-part narrative telling of the Christian holy book. So I guess everybody wins in the end.
Do you watch The Bible? What do you think of the Obama Satan look-alike controversy?
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