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.

Scroll down for video

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.

More...

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

Add your comments

Comments (1213)

The comments below have not been moderated.

View all

Gee, and Putin was upset over his comparison to Dobby! Whatevers...

- Valory , Washington DC, United Kingdom, 21/3/2013 05:12

Click to rate Rating 1

How do you think the Devil feels being compared to look like Obama?

- dannyboy71 , brick, 21/3/2013 03:11

Click to rate Rating 60

Burnett and Downey have said that they have the utmost respect for Obama, the History Channel said they love him, and Downey supported the campaign of Martin McGuinness, a Sinn Féin candidate, when he ran to be the President of Ireland. So I wouldn't doubt that she probably like Obama, when she's supported a left-wing candidate in the past.

- forever_a_kafir , Hartford, United States, 21/3/2013 02:27

Click to rate Rating 5

The weird incidences the producers experienced must have been results of hot air from bloated egos with messianic aspirations.

- kuhrdan1 , Backus, United States, 21/3/2013 02:09

Click to rate Rating 11

It makes for a very compelling case that Obama looks like the HBO series Devil. It wasn't that long ago that many pictures showed Obama being attacked by flies, and we all know what flies are attracted to. It's all making sense, and I hope it seriously irritates the liberal/socialist/progressive/communists. ROFLMAO

- Chris-from-America , Washington D.C., United States, 20/3/2013 23:49

Click to rate Rating 14

due to sequester Obama has been asked to take on outside work to keep the White House open for the public.

- Kameko , Houston, United States, 20/3/2013 21:20

Click to rate Rating 51

@zucccchini dullest comment of the day goes to you.

- Ben , USA, 20/3/2013 19:22

Click to rate Rating (0)

Not only dose Obama look like the Devil, but his number also adds up to the beast.!!!....Obama is 44th president of the United States of America and the word "Beast" is mentioned in its singular form 44 times in the book of Revelations. ........Barack Obama Born 4 August 1961 the 216th day of the year. 216 = 6x6x6........A=6 B=12 C=18 D=24 E=36 etc. BARACK = 216 = 6X6X6..............A=1 B=2 C=3 D=4 E=5 F=6 G=7 H=8 I=9 J=10 K=11 L=12 M= 13 N=14 O=15 P=16 Q=17 R=18 S=19 T=20 U=21 V=22 W=23 X=24 Y=25 Z=26. Barack: =2+1+18+1+3+11=36 Hussein=8+21+19+19+5+9+14=95 Obama = 15+2+1+13+1=32 Add these three totals 36+95+32=163 Multiply by the Beast: = 163 x 666 = 108,558 Split and Add: = 108 + 558 = 666. From this compiling evidence we can now take it that Obama is the Devil incarnate to be.

- Abbs , Dublin, 20/3/2013 19:17

Click to rate Rating 1

If Satan had a son he would look like Barry Obama.

- G Tegs , Chicago, United States, 20/3/2013 19:13

Click to rate Rating 35

I so mad Obama has time to do a TV show. We ain't got time for that!

- Benjamin62 , Denver, United States, 20/3/2013 18:52

Click to rate Rating 38

The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.

We are no longer accepting comments on this article.