Plans to broadcast a London musical that features a nappy-wearing Jesus who admits he is “a bit gay”, have sparked a record 5 500 complaints, a television watchdog said on Thursday.
The BBC nevertheless vowed to go ahead with its plan to show Jerry Springer: The Opera, based on the controversial United States talk show and which is still playing to packed houses in the West End of London.
The opera contains 3 168 “F”-words and 297 “C”-words. The expletive-laden songs include Pregnant by a Transsexual and Here Come the Hookers.
British media regulator Ofcom said it has received 5 500 complaints about the plan to broadcast the show, which is due to be screened on Saturday as the centrepiece of Jerry Springer Night on BBC2.
That figure is three times as many as the previous record holder, Martin Scorsese’s film The Last Temptation of Christ, which sparked 1 554 complaints when it was shown on television in the United Kingdom in 1995, it said.
The BBC added that it has received more than 15 000 calls from viewers concerned about the programme.
But the National Secular Society urged the national broadcaster to stand firm against “religious bullies”.
“This organised attack is the latest of a series of attempts by religious interests to control what we can see or say in this country,” said the group’s vice-president, Terry Sanderson.
The furore follows a Sikh protest in Birmingham over the staging of a controversial play, Behzti (Dishonour), which depicts murder and rape in a fictional Sikh temple.
Violent protests led the Birmingham Repertory Theatre to cancel the production. — AFP