Playboy Portugal pushes too far with Jesus cover

In a move that has upset the sensitivities of many people including the Playboy group itself, the Portuguese edition of Playboy came out recently with a cover showing  a model made to look like Jesus Christ and a half nude female model lying on a bed.

The issue also had a photo spread with the same male model surrounded by nude women.

Playboy Portugal said it was a tribute to Nobel Prize winning author Jose Saramago, who wrote The Gospel According to Jesus Christ, the Huffington Post said.

In Saramago’s fictional novel Christ is depicted as a flawed human being. The book upset the Roman Catholic Church, who accused Saramago of depicting a “substantially anti-religious vision,” the Daily Mail said.

The Portuguese group had not cleared the cover with Playboy which is a violation of their agreement. As a result, Playboy has decided to pull out of its agreement with Portugal, Time Newsfeed said.

Theresa Hennessy who is vice president of public relations for Playboy Enterprises said, “We did not see or approve the cover and pictorial in the July issue of Playboy Portugal.

“It is a shocking breach of our standards and we would have not allowed it to be published if we had seen it in advance.

“We are in the process of terminating our agreement with the Portuguese publisher,” The Daily Mail said.