Netflix sued over goat-headed deity in Sabrina series

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The Satanic Temple claims series' alleged use of the statue implies it "stands for evil."

 

 

The devil is sometimes in the details, and that's why Netflix is being sued over its new series The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.

The Satanic Temple is suing the streaming service and Warner Bros. for $50 million for alleged unauthorized use of the goat-headed deity Baphomet. The lawsuit, filed Thursday in US District Court in Manhattan, accuses Netflix and Warner Bros. of copyright infringement, trademark violations and injury to its reputation.

The show stars Kiernan Shipka, best known for portraying Don Draper's daughter Sally in the AMC series Mad Men, as 16-year-old Sabrina Spellman, a half-witch half-mortal wrestling with whether she should forgo her average teenage life by joining the Church of Night.

 

The Salem, Massachusetts-based Satanic Temple, a political activism group that advocates for free will and compassion toward all creatures, said the monument Baphomet with Children appears in at least four of first 10 episodes of the show in ways that imply it "stands for evil."

 

"The unique elements of TST's expression of the idea of Baphomet, and particularly the use of a male chest rather than voluptuous large female breasts, and the configuration with a small boy and small girl looking at the Sabbatic Goat head of the statue, were unquestionably copied by defendants," the complaint said.

 

The Satanic Temple's complaint also said the evil antagonists portrayed in the series are depicted "in stark contrast to TST's tenets and beliefs."

 

"Defendants' prominent use of it as the central focal point of the school associated with evil, cannibalism and possibly murder is injurious to the Satanic Temple's business," the lawsuit says.

In addition to monetary relief, the lawsuit seeks digital removal of the statue from future distributions of the series.

 

Warner Bros. declined to comment, while Netflix didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

 

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