The Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa (BCCSA) received several complaints over MultiChoice's Comedy Central (DStv 122) which broadcast a "Jesus of the ANC" skit portraying Jesus Christ as a thief, sent by God to Earth to steal a man's belongings.
Viewers who believe that the skit from Mdu Comics depicting a looting, robed Jesus with an ANC logo was blasphemous, complained. "This made me very uncomfortable seeing as it's not only disrespectful towards God, but also towards fellow Christians in South Africa," said one complainant.
MultiChoice told the BCCSA that "like many of Mdu Comics' clips, the 'Jesus of the ANC' clip is satirical in nature and puts a lighthearted spin on the current social and political issues or debates".
MultiChoice told the BCCSA that "we are of the opinion that there is nothing in the clip which meets the requirements of hate speech as described above. MultiChoice said the clip is "satire which pokes fun at or critiques some practices of some Christians or South African politics".
MultiChoice said "we however are aware that some members of the Christian community may find the clip disturbing and we therefore apologise to the complainant for any inconvenience or hurt caused."
The BCCSA judged that the clip was not intended to denigrade Jesus or hurt religious feelings and was directed at the ANC. The BCCSA found that the clip was not hate speech based on religion and that a faith was not being attacked. The BCCSA said that the broadcasters' code of conduct does not make provision for findings against broadcasters on the basis of offensiveness.
