Jesus of Nazareth (miniseries) - Controversy

Controversy

Before its initial broadcast, Jesus of Nazareth came under ideological fire from some American Protestant fundamentalists, led by Bob Jones III, president of Bob Jones University in South Carolina. Zeffirelli had told an interviewer from Modern Screen that the film would portray Jesus as "an ordinary man—gentle, fragile, simple". Jones interpreted this as meaning that the portrayal would deny Christ's divine nature. Having never seen the film, Jones denounced it as "blasphemy." Others picked up the cry and 18,000 letters were sent to General Motors, which had provided $3 million of the film's cost. Sacrificing its investment, GM backed out of its sponsorship.

Jesus is a prophet in Islam, and the portrayal of religious icons can be seen as prohibited by the Qur'an. A cut version of the mini-series was withdrawn from Egyptian cinemas after six days, due to fear of possible agitations in the wake of blasphemy. As a consequence, a decree was added to Egyptian General Censorship Law prohibiting the screening of dramatic personifications of all of 'the prophets', although The Passion of the Christ has since been screened.

In making his film, Zeffirelli explicitly wished to deemphasize the traditional accusation of deicide against the Jews. Some 26 years later, Zeffirelli laid blame for this very error against The Passion of the Christ (2004), which was produced and directed by Mel Gibson. Zeffirelli had directed Gibson in Hamlet (1990).