A luxury car company erased a famous 92-foot-tall statue of Jesus Christ out of an advertisement video.
A user on X called out Germany-based automaker Porsche for editing out the Santuário de Cristo Rei (Sanctuary of Christ the King) – a massive statue of Christ overlooking the city of Lisbon, Portugal – in its ad celebrating 60 years of the Porsche 911.
“Hey @Porsche, why did you erase the statue of Jesus Christ from your video filmed in Lisbon?” Alex B. asked in a post with the side-by-side comparison that has been viewed almost 6 million times.
Hey, @Porsche , why did you erase the statue of Jesus Christ from your video filmed in Lisbon? pic.twitter.com/VxcfUBrN8D
— Alex B. (@maisumcarneiro) August 5, 2023
The company responded to the backlash.
“In an early version of a film created in Europe, the Cristo Rei Statue does not appear,” Porsche said in a statement. “We are truly sorry and can fully understand the hurt this has caused. This film has been removed.”
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In the new version of the ad, released Sunday, the Jesus statue once again sits atop the almost 270-foot-tall concrete pedestal, which can be seen at the 44-second mark.
BELOW IS THE ORIGINAL AD:
They have now made the video private on YouTube.
— Alex B. (@maisumcarneiro) August 6, 2023
I’ll just leave it here.
I don’t think @elonmusk will cave to censorship on this platform. pic.twitter.com/abNLNJAler
“They aren’t hiding it anymore,” Jack Posobiec wrote. “They won’t stop until Christ is erased from the world.”
There were multiple calls for Christians to boycott Porsche similar to the Bud Light one.
“As a proud Lisboeta and a Christian, this is disgusting to me,” one user wrote. “If you don’t like my country’s culture, don’t f–ing film there @Porsche.”
“Let Us Worship” founder Sean Feucht wrote, “No Matter how hard they try, they will never be able to erase Jesus.”
Caleb Parke is the SMG managing editor. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and connect with him at calebparke.com.
