Controversy Brews Over New Christmas Movie Portraying Satan Instead of Santa

Actor Jack Black is portraying Satan in a new Christmas movie chronicling the story of a little boy who accidentally misspelled Santa’s name in a letter to the mystical gift-giver.

Paramount+ received swift pushback on social media after releasing a trailer for the upcoming holiday flick, “Dear Santa,” set to hit the streaming service Nov. 25, just ahead of Thanksgiving Day.

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Soon after Liam Turner mistakenly writes a letter to Satan, he is greeted by an unexpected summoning of the devil, who offers the child a costly deal: three wishes in exchange for the boy’s soul.

“You, my friend, are getting three wishes,” declares the bedeviled Black, adding, “By the way, after you make your wishes, I’m taking your soul.”

The film depicts Liam and Satan experiencing a series of events together, including performing on a stage with pop star Post Malone, who is featured in the movie.

Satan tells the young boy he is “way better than Santa” and reveals to him a “few of the things I can do for you.” The trailer then cuts to clips of Liam gambling, rolling around in a pile of money, and hanging out with celebrities like Malone.

Concerned about his wellbeing, Liam’s family stages what appears to be an intervention. Liam says, “Look, I’m worried Satan is going to trick me into getting my soul,” at which point one of the film’s characters, portrayed by Keegan-Michael Key, calls Liam “nuts.”

The film doesn’t appear to be without hope entirely, though. As none of Satan’s attempts to tarnish Liam’s character seem to work, the evil one laments, while standing atop a glowing pentagram, “I’ve tried everything; the kid’s incorruptible.”

Nevertheless, the movie has received criticism online.

One Instagram user who commented on a Paramount+ post about the film wrote he or she won’t be “wasting … time watching a movie that’s glorifying Satan.”

Another wrote, “Yep, the normalization of Satan continues. Don’t fall for it folks. Jesus is King.”

“Hollywood is the new Satanic cult,” added one more commenter.

There were some, though, who saw the film as telling a harmless, creative story.

“I don’t get why people are hating this,” someone added. “It looks like [a] dumb fun Christmas film that is not meant to be taken serious[ly] and I am all here for it. I know I will have fun watching it.”

Someone else commented, “I worked on this set as a customer. It was a blast working on this movie. Jack is awesome. You should see it. I think you would like it. I hope you enjoy.”

It’s worth noting that, while Black was raised Jewish, he does not now identify as religious at all. Rather, he said in 2012, he considers himself “kind of an atheist.”

He told NPR’s Terry Gross, “I don’t have any real spirituality in my life — I’m kind of an atheist — but when music can take me to the highest heights, it’s almost like a spiritual feeling. It fills that void for me.”

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