The film, titled “The First Temptation of Christ,” was brought to Netflix by Brazilian comedy group Porta dos Fundos and has been heavily criticized by conservative Christians in Brazil.
According to a Netflix summary of the movie: “Jesus, who's hitting the big 3-0, brings a surprise guest to meet the family. A Christmas special so wrong, it must be from comedians Porta dos Fundos.”
More than 1.2 million people have already signed a Change.org petition urging for the film to be removed.
"We support freedom of expression, but is it worth attacking the belief of 86 percent of the population," Eduardo Bolsonaro, the eldest son of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and a member of Congress, said in a tweet, AFP reported.
Catholicism is the largest religious denomination in Brazil, with around 64.6% of the population - or around 123 million people - being members of the church, AFP reported, citing the country’s 2010 census. In fact, Brazil has the largest Catholic community in the world.
According to AFP, Henrique Soares da Costa, a bishop in the northeastern Brazilian state of Pernambuco, declared on his Facebook account that he had cancelled his Netflix subscription because of the film, which he described as “blasphemous, vulgar and disrespectful.”
Other public figures in Brazil have also condemned the film. In a Facebook post, actor Carlos Vereza called Porta dos Fundos “pitiful” for producing “trash-refuse-porn movies.”
