Welcome to part two of this week’s unintentional winners of a bizarre look-alike contest.
On Sunday, the first episode of the History Channel miniseries The Bible raised eyebrows for what many found to be an uncanny resemblance between the Satan character and President Obama. Intentions aside, it’s tough not to notice at least some similarity.
Conservative talk show host Glenn Beck was one of the first to get the conversation started on Twitter; others quickly followed.
The History Channel vehemently denied that the casting choice was at all intended to equate President Obama and Satan.
“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. The Bible is meant to enlighten people on its rich stories and deep history,” a network spokesman said.
Mark Burnett, a creator and executive producer of the series, called the brouhaha “utter nonsense.”
“Both Mark and I have nothing but respect and love for our president, who is a fellow Christian,” said Roma Downey, who produced the film along with Burnett, to whom she has been married since 2007.
But the saga continues, thanks to Christian conservative radio host Rick Wiles. On Wednesday, Wiles, on TruNews, said that other forces–not History Channel executives–were responsible for the casting decisions and makeup.
“I don’t believe they intentionally portrayed the Lucifer character to look like Mr. Obama,” he said. “I think God guided the hand of the makeup artist and blinded the eyes of everybody on the movie set while it was being recorded, and the spiritual blinders were removed Sunday night when the program was broadcast nationally on the History Channel.”
Listen to the Hardball Sideshow for his full comments.
Maryalice Aymong