Egyptian MP John Talaat slammed on Thursday the American streaming service Netflix over its 2019 comedy special 'The First Temptation of Christ,' which depicts Jesus Christ as a homosexual.

Tallat described the show as an “offense to Jesus and to his mother the Virgin Mary.”

Talaat said in a statement to parliamentary reporters that there must be a binding international agreement that prohibits offending religions, prophets and holy figures, similar to the international convention on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination.

The purpose of such an agreement would be, according to Talaat, to "shut the door on inciters of hatred, sedition, and the insulting of religious figures."

Talaat asserted that insulting Christ is not considered freedom of speech.

He referred to Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that, “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief,” and accordingly, offending people’s beliefs is a human rights violation.

Talaat also praised the Coptic Orthodox Church for its condemnation of the show.

Coptic Orthodox Church spokesperson Bolis Halim told Al-Dostor newspaper last week that the church “categorically rejects such films.” He also said that “freedom of expression should not come at the expense of respecting beliefs,” and that the film falsifies reality and twists history.

The First Temptation of Christ is a Brazilian TV comedy special that was released on Netflix on 3 December 2019.

Since its release, the special has received significant backlash from Christians. More than 2 million people have signed a Change.org petition to have the show removed from Netflix.

On 24 December 2019, the headquarters of the Brazilian comedy group Porta dos Fundos, which created the show, was firebombed, according to a statement on their Twitter account.

The group said that the fire was contained and no one was hurt.

The Brazilian Supreme Court overturned last Thursday a ruling by a Rio de Janeiro judge to remove the show from Netflix.