On August 21, 2017, the AMC series “Preacher” disgracefully portrayed Jesus Christ in a television broadcast, in a profane combination of pornography and blasphemy according to Dr. Will Hall, editor of the Louisiana Baptist Message.
The AMC series “Preacher” has portrayed Christ in a graphic sex scene that combines blasphemy with pornography.
The August 21 episode titled, “Dirty Little Secret,” showed an actor playing the role of Jesus having sex with a married woman in an extended, graphic scene with explicit vocals. The director used shadows and silhouettes to soften the two figures as they engaged in various sexual positions, but these cinematic techniques did not disguise the pornography.
As Dr. Hall notes, one of the show’s producers, Seth Rogan, was both boastful about the episode, and “shocked” that AMC allowed the series to broadcast it as Dr. Hall noted.
In a tweet promoting the “Dirty Little Secret,” Seth Rogan was gleeful about offending community standards of decency, telling followers, ‘Tonight’s episode of #Preacher has some stuff I’ve been excited to bring to life for years and I’m SHOCKED they let us do it.’
Under Louisiana’s tax law, AMC has made filings with the state that could net AMC a check for $16.2 million in refundable tax credits.
The show itself and the effort to obtain tax credits for the series, are unconscionable. Payments to AMC for the episode or series, could also be illegal. Thanks to former Senator A.G. Crowe, who introduced SB 513, and the Louisiana Legislature that approved Act 650, in 2012, there is a prohibition against giving state tax credits to media companies for the production of pornography in Louisiana.
The production and presentation of this material is itself an outrage. AMC’s request for tax credits for the series “Preacher” is appalling. We respectfully request that the Administration, and the Office of Louisiana Economic Development, reject all efforts by AMC to obtain tax credits for the series “Preacher” and the episode which blasphemed Christ. We call upon the Administration and the Louisiana Office of Economic Development to flatly reject this request for a $16.2 million tax refund check.
It is true that with its current fiscal challenges, now is a difficult time for Louisiana to write tax refund checks to out of state media companies. However, the investment of taxpayer subsidies in this production would not be a good investment at any time, under any circumstance, for any pretext.
Thus, the larger truth is that there is never a good time to reward production companies that trash our Louisiana values, mock our beliefs– and dishonor Christ.
Rev. Larry Pridmore
Southside Baptist Church of Mansfield
Rev. & Mrs. Edward Roberts
Woodsprings Baptist, Grand Cane
John Milkovich
Louisiana Senate
