Was President Obama In 'The Bible'? No! It's Utter Nonsense, Says Producer

Was President Obama In 'The Bible'? No! It's Utter Nonsense, Says Producer

Twitter buzzed into life during the third episode of the History Channel's miniseries The Bible last week, with viewers apparently noticing the resemblance between actor Mohamen Mehdi Ouazanni's portrayal of Satan and somebody called, President Barack Obama? According to Topsy.com, there were 20,000 tweets containing the words "Obama" and "Satan" since the airing on Sunday (March 17, 2013).

Though Ouazanni bares a slight resemblance to the current President of the United States of America, many accused the History Channel of right-wing propaganda. However, producer Mark Burnett called the claims "utter nonsense," calling Ouazanni, "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." The actor has also had roles in the biblical TV movies, 'Jeremiah' and 'The Ten Commandments.' 

Burnett's wife Roma Downey, also an executive producer of the miniseries, 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." Satan appears in the miniseries, a retelling of the Temptation of the Christ, when Jesus fasted for 40 days in the Judean Desert.

Both Downey and Burnett supported Obama's first campaign for President in 2008, according to the Federal Election Commission, though neither donated money to his re-election campaign. 

Roma Downey [L] and Husband Mark Burnett [R] At Hallmark's Premiere Evening