MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazilians angry with a Netflix comedy depicting Jesus as a gay man

“The First Temptation of Christ” was created by Brazilian YouTube comedy group Porta dos Fundos

A comedy on Netflix depicting Jesus as a gay man has prompted widespread anger in Brazil with almost 2 million people signing a petition calling on the streaming service to remove the film.

“The First Temptation of Christ” was created by Brazilian YouTube comedy group Porta dos Fundos and portrays Jesus bringing home his presumed boyfriend Orlando to meet the Holy Family.

An online petition on Change.org calls for the 46-minute holiday special to be removed from Netflix and said it had offended Christians.

Brazil is a deeply religious country of around 210 million people where homophobia is common and both the Catholic Church and the popular evangelical Christian movement frequently criticize LGBT+ rights.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who has described himself as a “proud” homophobe, suspended funding earlier this year for a series of films, including a handful with LGBT+ themes.

The decision was later struck down by a federal court.

In a Tweet on Saturday, the president's son Eduardo Bolsonaro called the Netflix film “garbage” and said that the filmmakers “do not represent Brazilian society.”