Why does the devil in 'The Bible' look exactly like President Obama?

PUBLISHED: 02:08 EST, 18 March 2013 | UPDATED: 13:43 EST, 18 March 2013

Sunday evening's episode of the History Channel's hit series 'The Bible' threw up an awkward coincidence when viewers noticed that Satan bore a remarkable resemblance to President Obama.

Twitter exploded into life during the airing of the latest edition of the Mark Burnett-produced series with most noting the striking similarities between the 44th President and the devil played by actor Mehdi Ouzaani.

The show has been a surprise hit in the ratings, with the religious mini-series attracting 13.1 million viewers on Wednesday - topping television leviathan American Idol's 12.8 million viewers on Wednesday.

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Spooky: Viewers noted the Devil from the History Channel series 'The Bible' Satan looks similar to President Barack Obama

Right-wing commentator and radio-host Glenn Beck first pointed out the eerie similarity on Saturday, tweeting, 'Anyone else think the Devil in #TheBible Sunday on History Channel looks exactly like That Guy?'

Others were simply struck by the clear physical match.

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Twitter user @Leah Christie, tweeted, 'Oh my word...watching The History Channel's The Bible..does Satan look familiar to anyone else?'

The resemblance between Moroccan actor Mehdi Ouazzani (left) and President Obama left some viewers of 'The Bible' taking to Twitter to express their amazement

Right-wing radio host and commentator Glenn Beck was one of the first to point out the uncanny likeness of Mehdi Ouazzani to the 44th President of the United States

The popular religious show has become a surprise hit of the winter/spring schedule and viewers on Sunday night took to Twitter to express their shock at the similarities of the two men

While Matthew Gaudet commented, 'Watching The Bible series on the History channel and noticed the guy playing the role of Satan, looks strikingly similar to Obama.'

The unfortunate incident bares comparison with HBO's infamous inclusion of a fake George W. Bush head impaled onto a stick during the background of a Season 1 Game of Thrones episode.

When the incident went viral, the network announced it was pulling the offending episode - from its rotation, freezing shipments of DVD box sets and halting sales on iTunes until the embarrassing blunder had been fixed.

'We were deeply dismayed to see this and find it unacceptable, disrespectful and in very bad taste,' HBO said in a statement.

Spiked: Former U.S. President George W. Bush's surprise appearance on HBO's fantasy series Game of Thrones, bares comparison to President Obama's look-a-like on Sunday's 'The Bible'

Game of Thrones creators D.B Weiss and David Benioff faced massive criticism for using a prop of George W. Bush's head in a scene from Season One of the hit show

'We made this clear to the executive producers of the series, who apologized immediately for this careless mistake.

'We condemn it in the strongest possible terms and have halted all future shipments of the DVDs, removed it from our digital platforms and will edit the scene for all future airings on any distribution domestic or international.'

HBO and the show's creators, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, apologized for the incident.

Mr Benioff and Mr Weiss, who noted the appearance in the series' DVD commentary, insist it wasn't a political statement - just a prop.

It remains to be seen whether this particular presidential mishap will create a similar backlash against the wildly popular mini-series.

The Mark Burnett-produced program retells the stories from the scriptures in a scripted format, from Genesis through to Revelation, the last book of the New Testament.

The miniseries' popularity is somewhat of a mystery. For one, the drama wasn't a hit with television critics, receiving a mediocre score of 44 on the Metacritic site.

Swarm of snakes: Producer Mark Burnett and his wife Roma Downey behind the scenes on The Bible where they believe 'the hand of God' was at work

'Blessed': Producer Mark Burnett and his wife Roma Downey behind the scenes on The Bible where they believe 'the hand of God' was at work during filming

'As a cable series, The Bible lacked the ready-made, large scale promotional platform and popular lead-in that can drive strong ratings for a new show on a major broadcast network, of the kind NBC was, for many years,' writes a columnist in The Washington Times.

Indeed, Burnett told Entertainment Weekly that the series' success seemed almost preordained while it was being made.

'The hand of God was on this,' he said in an interview before the show's premiere. 'The edit came together perfectly, the actors came together perfectly, it just comes to life.'

Mr Burnett, who is most famous for creating reality shows such as Survivor and produced The Bible along with his actress wife Roma Downey, described a number of 'weird things' which drew the attention of cast and crew during filming.

Tales: British-born producer Mark Burnett revealed the extraordinary experiences of the crew

Tales: British-born producer Mark Burnett, left, who created the series along with his wife Ms Downey, right, revealed the extraordinary experiences of the crew during filming

In one scene, filmed during a still night on the edge of the desert, Jesus tells the priest Nicodemus, 'The Holy Spirit is like the wind.'

According to Mr Burnett: 'At that moment, a wind, like as if a 747 was taking off, blew his hair, almost blew the set over and sustained for 20 seconds across the desert.

'Everyone just looked at everyone like, 'What just happened?'

Meanwhile, Glen Beck today tried to pour water on his comments, tweeting: 'Media – relax. Actor has been in similar roles b4. Funny, nothing more. For different reasons, #TheBible is 1 of my fav shows. Keep watching.'

The Bible is airing on the History Channel in two-hour chunks on Sunday nights, and has been the surprise winner in its timeslot.

The series will air its finale on March 31, Easter Sunday.

VIDEO See The Bible trailer for yourself here...

The Bible official miniseries trailer

Obama As The Devil? The History Channel¿s The Bible¿s Stunning Look-alike | Mediaite

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If the shoe fits......................! I never thought anything about a resemblence until it was made public. Watching the movie I only saw Satan. Now when I watch I will think Obama!~

- kaddison2001 , Florence, 19/3/2013 17:06

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It was probably just a subconscious rendering of evil. Just like we all have a picture in our head of what an alien would look like, people in the USA have a picture in their mind of what evil looks like. The producers probably didn't even notice that they were creating a character based on obama's visage- they just created the picture of evil that came to mind, and there it was. Sometimes in our country the only honest expression that we see is an accidental one- we'll take it.

- Frank Cotton , NYC, 19/3/2013 17:05

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Obama is the anti Christ is my book. He is frightening. At least Mark Burnett is not afraid to reveal the truth good for him. Get over it everybody.

- veronica , Bend, 19/3/2013 17:03

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The trouble with Republicans calling themselves Christian Followers of Jesus Christ,hypocrisy,hate and greed are not the basic tenets!

- URLNTS , NY, 19/3/2013 16:31

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Obama is evil.

- williamdelashmutt3 , Farmville, 19/3/2013 16:24

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This seems like more of a "they all look alike" moment than anything else. Those who already hate Obama will see what they want because it justifies their insane delusions. As for what spews from the ignorant pie holes of Glenn the drug addict Beck, or his buddy Rush the drug addict Limbaugh, who cares...they will both be visiting the one true devil one day in the future and they can discuss who he looks like in person for eternity.

- Raoul Duke , carbondale, United States, 19/3/2013 15:40

Click to rate Rating 13

He looks more like Leonard Nemoy. Oh, God, No! Spock is the Devil!!

- Will Van Stone Jr , Ansonia, United States, 19/3/2013 14:58

Click to rate Rating 7

Hey, If everyone is in an uproar about this, maybe there is some truth about it. I think that although a coincident, many may feel that we actually elected satin as our president. I don't see any comments disagreeing with this concept. Maybe we should be careful who we elect the next time, if there is a next time.

- andrewhascoe , Norwak, United States, 19/3/2013 14:37

Click to rate Rating 7

OK, that's it...final straw....I'm switching to the Telegraph. I'm only surprised the bleeding Kardashians weren't mentioned.

- telmac1 , Up here watching you lot, United Kingdom, 19/3/2013 13:21

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Yep, he looks just like Obama ... if Obama were from Morocco, white, addicted to overusing eyebrow pencil, and his warty growth moved from his nose to his chin. And wore a hoodie.

- VoiceOfReason71 , Henryetta, 19/3/2013 11:20

Click to rate Rating 23

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