The Rio de Janeiro headquarters of Porta dos Fundos, creators of the Netflix gay Jesus Christmas Special were attacked with two petrol bombs in the early hours of December 24.
The Brazilian comedy troupe’s film “The First Temptation of Christ,” sparked outrage a couple of weeks back. The 46-minute comedy portrays Jesus bringing home his “boyfriend” Orlando to meet the Holy Family.
They were attacked after over 2 million people signed a petition to boycott the “Gay Jesus” show. They called it “offensive to Christians.”
The group later reacted to the backlash saying it is homophobic to be offended by the film.
A representative for the group told Brazilian news portal UOL that the Molotov cocktail attack resulted in a fire. One of the office’s security guards put out the fire and there were no casualties. The incident, however, put several innocent lives at risk”.
“In the early morning of December 24, on Christmas Eve, the headquarters of Porta dos Fundos was the victim of an attack. They threw Molotov cocktails at our building,” the comedy group said in a statement.
They gave a statement after the attack…
“We will move on, more united, stronger, more inspired and confident that the country will survive this storm of hatred and love will prevail alongside freedom of speech,” the comedians said
They added that they had handed video footage from security cameras to the authorities.
Porta dos Fundos won an International Emmy for its prior Jesus-themed 2018 Christmas Special, “The Last Hangover”.
This depicted his disciples waking up after a Last Supper blow-out, where Thomas contributes hard drugs and prostitutes, to discover Jesus was not there.
“Religious” bigotry
Brazil is home to the world’s largest Catholic community as well as a fast-expanding evangelical community with increasing political influence.
President Jair Bolsonaro has described himself as a “proud” homophobe. He once told an interviewer he would rather have a dead son than a gay son.
Earlier this year he suspended funding for a series of films, including a handful with LGBT+ themes. A federal court later struck down the decision.
His son, Eduardo Bolsonaro, recently called Porta dos Funds’ Christmas special “garbage” on his Twitter account. He said the filmmakers “do not represent Brazilian society.”