A group of Satanists filed a lawsuit against Netflix and Warner Bros for “falsely” depicting their goat-headed idol, Baphomet, in the new spin-off of “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” (editor’s note: see photo by Reuters).
The Salem, Massachusetts-based Satanic Temple is suing the entertainment companies for $50 million for depicting its Baphomet statue in four episodes of the series, “The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.” The lawsuit, filed in a federal court in New York on Thursday, claims Baphomet’s appearance on the series is copyright infringement, trademark violation and constitutes misappropriation, and “confusion of origin and injury of reputation,” according to the U.K. Telegraph. “Importantly, these original expressions are misappropriated through use of an obvious copy which is featured prominently throughout the ‘Sabrina’ series and the central focal point of the school in the ‘Sabrina’ series which represents evil antagonists,” said the complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
The suit states that one of the reasons the Satanic Temple created the goat-headed image was “to promote First Amendment values of separation of church and state and equal protection.”
“The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” features their version of the statue when Sabrina (Kiernan Shipka) is forced to make a decision on whether to join her family’s devil-worshiping church and sign her name in the “Dark Lord’s Book,” which would take away her free will.
Neither Netflix nor Warner Bros. have publicly commented on the lawsuit.