David Henson has blogged about the casting of Lebanese actor Haaz Sleiman in the role of Jesus in the upcoming miniseries “Killing Jesus.” He writes:
Killing Jesus might have just killed White Jesus.
National Geographic Channel’s new miniseries, Killing Jesus, has done what virtually no other mainstream Jesus film or television series has done.
They cast a Middle Eastern man to portray a Middle Eastern man.
Shocking, I know.
The four-part miniseries, set to air in 2015, announced today that Lebanon-born actor Haaz Sleiman (The Visitor) will portray the title character Jesus.
Now for virtually any other subject, this wouldn’t be surprising or even worth mentioning.
I mean, if you were filming a Martin Luther King, Jr., miniseries, you wouldn’t cast Jim Caviezel or Diogo Morgado in the lead role. It’d be ridiculous and racist and insulting.
They’d be laughed right off the screen.
But when it comes to Jesus of Nazareth?
Jesus of Palestine?
Jesus of the Middle East?
Apparently, only white Europeans can play the savior of the world.
Until now.
You can read more in his blog post. I love his comparison to the casting of Jim Caviezel to play Martin Luther King Jr., and I am embarrassed that it never occurred to me to think in those terms before.
As it happens, this news came to me the day after I saw this meme image on Facebook:
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