The Satanic Temple Is Threatening Legal Action Against Netflix’s New Sabrina Series
Published on November 2, 2018.Netflix
No one working on Netflix’s new hit show probably saw this coming.
According to reports, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is now facing legal action from The Satanic Temple because of the use of a satanic statue in an episode of the new series.
Earlier in the week, Lucien Graves, the co-founder and spokesperson for The Satanic Temple announced that the organization was planning to take legal action against the series for its use of Baphomet, a winged-goat deity statue, in an episode with the permission of the temple.
“Yes, we are taking legal action regarding #TheChillingAdventuresofSabrina appropriating our copyrighted monument design to promote their asinine Satanic Panic fiction,” he tweeted on Sunday.
“I’m amazed that anybody is confused as to why we would seek legal remedy over Sabrina using our monument,” Greaves added in a separate tweet. “Would they be as understanding of a fictional show that used a real mosque as the HQ of a terrorist cell? A fictional Blood Libel tale implicating real world Jews?”
He went on to explain that Baphomet has been copyrighted by the organization and the temple considers it their “central icon.”
“Given the show’s utilization of the Baphomet statue to represent an evil cannibalistic cult, a perception falsely associated with Satanism even in modern times, TST would have denied its use to the show creators,” Greaves said to Rolling Stone. “Not only does it contradict what Baphomet represents, we owe it to those who identify with us to not allow this image, and by extension them, to be represented in this way.”
“The reason for this demand is that this particular imagery is unique from any other likeness of Baphomet,” The Satanic Temple’s legal counsel Stuar de Haan said. “It was created by The Satanic Temple to represent its unique interests including empathy, bodily autonomy, and individual liberties.”
“The way it is portrayed in Sabrina is completely antithetical for what the Temple stands for,” de Haan continued. “It was a copyrighted image and permission was never granted or requested by any media outlet. It is undeniable that this imagery was directly taken from The Satanic Temple rather than other source material.”