Ever since Chilling Adventures of Sabrina debuted on Netflix in October, rumors have been circulating that actual Satanists, specifically The Satanic Temple, have been threatening to sue over the show’s use of their beloved (and trademarked) diety. Now, per The Hollywood Reporter, it seems they’ve actually gone and filed a lawsuit against the streaming giant and the show’s production studio at Warner Bros. for a whopping sum of $50 million.
According to the report, they’re particularly angry about the show’s use of a statue of Baphomet at Sabrina’s school, The Academy of Unseen Arts:
“Baphomet is a historical deity which has a complex history, having been associated with accusations of devil worship against the Knight Templar,” explains The Satanic Temple in its complaint filed in New York federal court. “Baphomet historically involved a goat’s head (sometimes known as the ‘Sabbatic Goat’) on a female body associated with Lilith, a figure from Jewish mysticism sometimes considered a goddess of the night. The classic visual representation of idea of Baphomet is an image created in or about 1856 by an occult historian Eliphas Levi…”
The lawsuit goes on to claim that Netflix and Warner Bros. illegally made modifications to a design that is copyrighted, and therefore owned, by the plaintiffs. It also notes that the statue is the “most politically charged sculpture of our time,” thereby making it an even more widely publicized (and therefore more expensive) commodity. So yeah, actual Satanists are suing the teams behind Chilling Adventures of Sabrina for stealing their statue design. That’s cool.
(Via The Hollywood Reporter)
