Protesters against Paris Jackson film are misinformed, says producer
Paris Jackson, pictured, plays Bella Thorne's mother in the film "Habit." Credit: Invision / AP / Willy Sanjuan
A petition to try to prevent distribution of a film featuring Paris Jackson as a Jesus-like figure contends that the movie portrays a "lesbian Jesus" although the film does not.
"In fact," producer Cassian Elwes told Newsday in response to a tweeted inquiry about "Habit," starring Bella Thorne, "Paris appears in a fantasy moment that Bella has in the film where Bella has a vision of her mother (played by Paris) dressed as Jesus." The producer, whose movies include "Lee Daniels' The Butler" (2013), "Dallas Buyers Club" (2013) and "Mudbound" (2017"), added of the lesbian claim, "That's absolute nonsense.”
While the movie does not portray the actual historical figure of Jesus and gives no indication whether the lead character's mother is a lesbian, more than 275,000 people as of Thursday morning had signed the Change.org petition by One Million Moms, a group affiliated with the anti-gay American Family Association. The petition states that the film "stars Paris Jackson who plays the role of 'lesbian Jesus'. Distributors haven't picked it up as of yet, so let's please spread awareness and wake people up to the Christianophobic garbage that is spread nowadays, but is somehow accepted and praised by society."
Elwes' production company, Elevated, had announced the thriller in March, describing it in a news release as about "a street smart party girl with a Jesus fetish" who "gets mixed up in a violent drug deal and finds a possible way out" by "masquerading as a nun" — a premise similar to that of such films as the comedies "Nuns on the Run" (1990), starring Eric Idle and Robbie Coltrane, and "Sister Act" (1992), starring Whoopi Goldberg.
One Million Moms, which numerous reports have noted is named metaphorically and not literally, has more than 4,700 followers on its Twitter account and nearly 97,100 on its Facebook account. The group did not respond to a Newsday request for comment. A representative for Paris Jackson, daughter of the late pop star Michael Jackson, had no comment.
While Jackson, 22, has had relationships with both men and women, she has described herself as gay and not bisexual.
