More religious leaders seek apology for Lord Ganesh mockery in SNL skit of Jim Carrey

NEVADA - In a remarkable interfaith gesture, Methodists are also asking for apology for insulting of Hindu Lord Ganesh in a Saturday Night Live (SNL) skit of NBC in which actor-comedian Jim Carrey participated.everend Dr. Tom Butler, highly respected United Methodist Pastor in Nevada (USA), in a statement, said: “SNL has fallen to a new low in terms of program quality with its use of a Hindu deity to present what would be considered in most communities in the US and around the world to be an obscene ‘lesson’ on sexual positions for use in the bedroom. The entire segment was in exceptionally poor taste, but the reference to the Hindu deity, Lord Ganesh, goes beyond poor taste; it appears to be a direct insult and intentional offense to those whose religious beliefs and practices revere Lord Ganesh. An apology from the producer of the show to the Hindu people who were subjected to it is clearly due.”

In a skit on NBC’s SNL (January eight) titled “The Wrath of Ganesh”, Jim Carrey (as erotic shaman Lee Licious) and Kenan Thomson (as Grady Wilson) demonstrate a sexual technique, mocking elephant-headed Lord Ganesh and his trunk in the process. Grady has traveled the world to find new sexual techniques to spice up the bedroom, the tagline of the episode (1587) “Grady Wilson’s Tantric N’Tasty” says.

Eminent Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, taking up this issue, has earlier said that Lord Ganesh was highly revered in Hinduism and was meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines and not to be thrown around loosely in reimagined versions for dramatic effects in TV series for mercantile greed. Such absurd depiction of Lord Ganesh with no scriptural backing was hurtful to the devotees.

Such trivialization of Lord Ganesh was disturbing and offensive to the one billion Hindus world over, Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, said and requested NBC to immediately remove it from all its websites and other links.

Rajan Zed also asked Golden Globe winner actor-comedian Jim Carrey (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) , actor-comedian Kenan Thomson, NBC Universal President and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Zucker, and SNL Executive Producer Lorne Michaels to tender a public apology for it and urged them not to inappropriately drag Hindu deities to advance the commercial or other agenda in the future.

Meanwhile, Forum for Hindu Awakening has appealed devout Hindus worldwide to protest against it. Jewish leader Rabbi ElizaBeth W. Beyer, Unity Church leader Reverend Larry Edward Schneider, Buddhist Minister ‘Jikai’ Phil Bryan, and International Society for Krishna Consciousness leader Annabelle Younger, have also sought public pologies from those responsible, while spiritual leader Swami Pooja Saraswati called for boycott of NBC network. ANI)