The Brazilian Creators, Porta dos Fundos suffered from an attack on their headquarters in Rio de Janeiro on Christmas Eve following a wave of backlash due to their Netflix Comedy called, The First Temptation of Christ which aired Netflix on December 3rd. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Porta dos Fundos headquarters was hit with two Molotov Cocktail style attack on Tuesday. Two security guards working for the building were able to put out the fire and fortunately, no one was hurt in the attack. The fire which occurred on the outside of building did sustain significant fire damage.
The reason for the attack is from the recent outrage from viewers around the controversial context regarding their new show, The First Temptation of Christ. The Netflix description of the show which insinuatingly portrays Jesus as a homosexual. After returning home from being in the desert his mother Mary and Joseph decide to through Jesus a surprise 30thbirthday party. Whilst returning home, however, Jesus brings along with a man named Orlando. According to Variety, “Orlando’s behavior suggests that he’s almost certainly gay; Jesus is never portrayed as explicitly gay but is mightily embarrassed to be discovered with Orlando.” As a result, the controversial show compelled audiences to turn to petitioning that would require the show to be banned as well as forcing the creators of the show to apologize to viewers. So far the petition for the shows removal has hit up to 2.33 million signatures. (Variety) Even the son of the Brazilian President spoke out calling the special “garbage”.
A statement from Porta dos Fundos via Instagram described both the events and the company’s feelings on the matter “One of the security guards managed to control the fire and was not injured, even though the action endangered several innocent lives in the company and on the street. Porta dos Fundos condemns any act of violence and has made the security camera images available to the authorities, and expects those responsible for the attacks to be found and punished. However, our priority right now is the safety of the entire team that works with us. Once we have more details, we will speak again. But for now, we anticipate that we will move on, more united, stronger, more inspired and confident that the country will survive this storm of hatred, and love will prevail along with freedom of speech.”
Porta dos Fundos also have another show regarding the son of God which won them an International Emmy in 2018 called The Last Hangover. A series which can be described as an overlap between the 2009 film, The Hangover and Jesus. Where after a night of partying at The Last Supper Jesus’s disciples must find him while trying to recall the details from the night before.