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Larry David Blasted for 'Curb' Episode Where He Urinates on Jesus Painting
Comedian Larry David pushed the mocking of religion over the edge in latest episode of his HBO show, critics say.
FOXNews.com
October 28, 2009
Comedian Larry David is under attack from critics who say he pushed the mocking of religion and Christian belief in miracles over the edge in the latest episode of his HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm, which the cable network defended as "playful."
On the show's most recent installment, which aired Sunday, David urinates on a painting of Jesus Christ, causing a woman to believe the painting depicts Jesus crying.
Deal Hudson, author and publisher of InsideCatholic.com, said he doesn't find any humor in the episode.
"I don't think it's funny," Hudson told Foxnews.com. "Why is it that people are allowed to publicly show that level of disrespect for Christian symbols? If the same thing was done to a symbol of any other religions -- Jewish or Muslim -- there'd be a huge outcry. It's simply not a level playing field."
Hudson said an apology from the show's producers and writing team should be issued.
"Somebody should [apologize]," Hudson said. "When is it going to stop? When is common sense going to dictate that people realize this willingness of artists to do to Christianity what they would never do to Judaism or Islam?"
In a statement to Foxnews.com, HBO downplayed the controversy.
"Anyone who follows Curb Your Enthusiasm knows that the show is full of parody and satire," the statement read. "Larry David makes fun of everyone, most especially himself. The humor is always playful and certainly never malicious."
Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, also criticized the episode, saying David should "quit while he's ahead," and that the show is proof that the comedian's best years are behind him.
"Was Larry David always this crude? Would he think it's comedic if someone urinated on a picture of his mother?" Donohue said in a statement. "This might be fun to watch, but since HBO only likes to dump on Catholics (it was just a couple of weeks ago that Sarah Silverman insulted Catholics on 'Real Time with Bill Maher') and David is Jewish, we'll never know."
During Sunday's episode, David, who created, wrote and produced "Seinfeld," visits a bathroom in his assistant's home and splatters urine on a picture of Jesus. Instead of wiping it off, David leaves the restroom. Minutes later, David's assistant enters the bathroom and concludes that Jesus is crying. She then summons her mother to the bathroom, where both women kneel in prayer.
"When David and Jerry Seinfeld (playing himself) are asked if they ever experienced a miracle, David answers, 'every erection is a miracle,' Donohue's statement continued. "That's what passes for creativity these days."
The episode, "The Bare Midriff," primarily revolves around David's assistant and her belly-revealing attire. According to the show's Web site, a "new pill" increased David's urine flow, leading to the "misunderstanding about a miraculously weeping Jesus."
HBO promoted the controversial scene on the show's site, complete with a "squirm-o-meter" that ranked the urine incident ahead of David's confronting his assistant about her exposed midriff.
One would not forget the Piss Christ by Andres Serrano, depicting a crucifix submerged in the "artist"'s urine, in 1987. The work was rewarded by the National Endowment for Arts with $15,000 in 1987. To see who really promote the blasphemy. The piece was exhibited in Australia in the National Gallery of Victoria. It provoked a storm. The authorities refused to withdraw it under the pretext of freedom of speech. At the time Australians would have none of this and smashed the picture. Of course the "vandalism" was denounced, but the exhibition was closed.
ReplyDeleteThere is no wonder that a Jew is the perpetrator. They can't miss any opportunity to shoqw their hatred for Christ.
I just received from Romania the information that an icon of the Mother of God wept. It happened on the 29th of August, at the Skete Huta near the town of Beius,in western Romania. It was on the day of the Feast of the Skete, The Beheading of St. John the Baptist. The icon is a lithographic copy of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. Fr. Justin Parvu has underlined the significance of the Icon,protection in times of persecutions. He said: "Until now it was the time of witnessing, in short time will come the time of martyrdom".
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info. Interestingly I mentioned the "Piss Christ" display in a comment today here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2009/10/corruption-of-orthodox-iconography.html
If you have any more info on the Romanian weeping icon, please pass it along.
It is certainly not just a "coincidence". It is also very significant that the icon was a lithography stuck on the wood. It is an incontrovertible proof that the "image" is the "substance" of an icon.
ReplyDeleteIn the same vein, the region offered in the past weeping icons. One is the icon of the Mother of God at the Monastery Nicula, near the town of Cluj, which wept between 15 of February and 12 March 1699 the year of the initiation of the uniate offensive in Transylvania.
Another occurence is the weeping of icon of the Mother of God at Mariapovch in Carpathian Russia, in 1696 in the same historical context. The icon was transferred to Vienna (where it is to this day in the Vienna cathedral) and replaced with a copy, which wept also in 1715. The last known occurrence was in 1905.
The Skete Huta is presently reclaimed by the uniates who started again a campaign of slanders and denounciations against the Orthodox Church.