Was Someone Who Looked Like Obama Picked to Portray Satan in 'The Bible'?

No.  But that doesn’t stop the Daily Mail from parroting a tweet from Glenn Beck about it:

Sunday evening’s episode of the History Channel’s hit series ‘The Bible’ threw up an awkward coincidence when viewers noticed that Satan bore a remarkable resemblance to President Obama.

Twitter exploded into life during the airing of the latest edition of the Mark Burnett-produced series with most noting the striking similarities between the 44th President and the devil played by actor Mehdi Ouzaani.

The show has been a surprise hit in the ratings, with the religious mini-series attracting 13.1 million viewers on Wednesday – topping television leviathan American Idol’s 12.8 million viewers on Wednesday.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2295082/Why-does-devil-The-Bible-look-exactly-like-President-Obama.html#ixzz2NumrWm00

Those “viewers” must have all read the same tweet from Beck.

Pictured here is Mehdi Ouazanni (misspelled by the Daily Mail), who played Satan; it is the same picture that the Daily Mail used, which means they basically just took his photo and ran with his ‘observation’.  It is unfortunate because they have poisoned the well and effectively committed memory contamination.

Indeed, no one has thought about the fact that this whole series was made in Britain.  Yes, that’s right.  It was made by people who care less about our politics in this country than people who support anarchism.  It is a completely absurd notion that someone was purposefully cast, by a British crew none the less, to imitate Obama.

But that doesn’t stop Glenn Beck–especially since it helps his cause to get people thinking along these lines.  No, just ignore it.  Mehdi Ouazanni looks like Obama in the same way that Glenn Beck is an unbiased, reasonable person and commentator.  Are you picking up what I’m putting down?

h/t Mark Goodacre.

UPDATE:

Several statements were released by the producers and History Channel in regards to the claim:

Executive Producers, Mark Burnett & Roma Downey said:

“This is utter nonsense. The actor who played Satan, Mehdi Ouzaani, 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.”

Executive Producer, Roma Downey added,

“Both Mark and I have nothing but respect and love for 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.”

Glenn Beck trying to change around the Biblical narrative to suit his agenda?  Say it ain’t so!  But they’re right.  Both gave to Obama’s campaign in 2007 and 2008.  CNN reports:

Both Downey and Burnett supported Obama’s first campaign for president in 2008, according to Federal Election Commission reports. Downey gave $5,000 to the Obama Victory Fund and $2,700 to the Democratic National Committee in 2008. Burnett also donated to Obama’s first campaign – $2,300 in 2007.

So please put this craziness behind you.  No one was cast to look like Obama–certainly not the Moroccan playing Satan!

One note (h/t Candida Moss), while Downey and Burnett are in the US, the people involved in casting have all worked for British media.

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