Logo

History Channel Responds to Uproar Over Casting of ‘Obama Lookalike’ as Satan — See for Yourself

Mar 18, 2013  •  Post A Comment

The History channel is playing defense after the Internet erupted in speculation about why the actor who plays Satan in History’s miniseries “The Bible” looks a lot like President Obama.

The cable channel released a number of statements in response to the frenzy. “History channel has the highest respect for President Obama,” a statement from the channel said. "The series was produced with an international and diverse cast of respected actors. It’s unfortunate that anyone made this false connection. History’s ‘The Bible’ is meant to enlighten people on its rich stories and deep history."

Satan is played in the production by Mohamen Mehdi Ouazanni.

“A number of Twitter users noticed the similarity between Ouazanni and Obama on Sunday,” The Huffington Post reported. “Among them was Glenn Beck, who first tweeted that the series was ‘one of the most important shows in decades,’ then posted a screenshot of Ouazanni and asked if others thought he looked like ‘That Guy,’ Beck’s preferred term for Obama.”

The report notes that Ouazanni has appeared in a number of biblical productions, including "The Ten Commandments" and "David."

A statement from executive producers Mark Burnett and Roma Downey says: “This is utter nonsense. The actor who played Satan, Mehdi Ouzaani [sic], is a highly acclaimed Moroccan actor. He has previously played parts in several Biblical epics — including Satanic characters long before Barack Obama was elected as our President.”

Downey added: "Both Mark and I have nothing but respect and love our President, who is a fellow Christian. False statements such as these are just designed as a foolish distraction to try and discredit the beauty of the story of The Bible.”

mohamen-mehdi.jpg

Mohamen Mehdi Ouazanni in “The Bible”

9 Comments

  1. One saying comes to mind – paraphrasing: I think some Obama supporters doth protest too much…
    Hilarious!

  2. Reba, I agree with you. If they wanted someone effectively portraying evil, he should have looked like Dick Cheney.

  3. Glenn Beck will do anything to promote himself. Taking cheap shots at a show like this. that has high ratings and family audiences. just shows the kind of jerk he is.

  4. Tim, I believe that’s been done. Dick Cheney has been portrayed as evil characters on Family Guy. Don’t remember a huge uproar about it. Guess Republicans have just developed thicker skins.

  5. I think another question is why “The Bible” is on the History channel as opposed to SciFi or Christian Broadcasting Network.

  6. And just how in the hell does this wrinkly, ragged looking man happen to look anything like Obama? He’s brown and has full lips; that somehow makes them twins?? The real story here is how some white people still haven’t evolved enough to be able to tell us apart.

  7. Glen who? Don’t confuse celebrity with significance. Wouldn’t surprise me if Mark Burnett didn’t call the “Glen” and set him up. Gives nice publicity for the History Channel.

  8. He is still your commander in chief like it or not. I believe you did this on purpose miss christian.

  9. He is still your commander in chief like it or not. I believe you did this on purpose miss christian.

Leave a Reply to TimD Cancel Reply

Email (will not be published)