Comic Relief is supposed to be a light hearted affair, but it didn’t turn out that way for quite a few people after Rowan Atkinson’s sketch featuring him as the new Archbishop Of Canterbury got more than 2,000 complaints from angry viewers.
The BBC has promptly not added it onto the iPlayer and come out and apologised to any viewers who might have been offended by the statements made by Atkinson. For those of you who didn’t get a chance to see it the hubbub has arisen over a short speech to camera where Atkinson says that Jesus loves One Direction (as they remind him of the disciples), dissuades people from ‘shagging’ their neighbours and claims that while prayer doesn’t work, it’s a great way to prepare for sleep.
The short piece got 2,133 people riled up enough to contact Ofcom, the British TV standards agency, although we really can’t understand what the entire fuss is all about. All this was just a light hearted little bit of fun at the Church Of England’s expense, poking fun at some of the silliness that surrounds religion as a whole, rather than ridiculing Christianity specifically. It’s a character that Rowan Atkinson’s played for years and while this might be the most risqué he’s ever been in the role, it’s not a complete change in style.
In fact, perhaps the most ill-advised bit of the sketch was putting it on at such an early hour with the blatant sexual references. We know the kids will have heard worse than that on the playground, but still, let’s keep that until at least after 8:30 shall we?
This just goes to show what a hot button topic religion still is in comedy, that even this slight poke of fun at the warm and fuzzy Church Of England can have so many people het up. Thank goodness he didn’t make fun of a more volatile religion, or else he’d have to flee the country.
Tagged in Comic Relief Rowan Atkinson