Satan from the History Channel's "The Bible" (left) the Commander and Chief, President of the United 
States Barack Obama (right). (Photo: ohnotheydidnt)

Derry native, actress and producer of “The Bible”, Roma Downey has insisted claims stating the character of Satan in the miniseries was modeled on President Barack Obama are “utter nonsense”.

The second part, in the ten-part History Channel miniseries, aired on Sunday night and immediately chatter began online about how much Satan looks like the President.

The right-wing pundit Glenn Beck even tweeted “Does Satan look EXACTLY like Obama? Yes!” He later backtracked and said he was joking.

Downey and her husband and co-producer Mark Burnett released a statement claiming the internet chatter was “utter nonsense”. They added that the Moroccan actor Mehdi Ouazanni, who plays Satan, had previously starred in other projects playing “satanic characters long before Barack Obama was elected as our president”.

Downey said “Both Mark and I have nothing but respect and love for our president, who is a fellow Christian. False statements such as these are just designed as a foolish distraction to try and discredit the beauty of the story of The Bible.”

Similarly the History Channel issued a statement saying they have the “highest respect” for the President and said “it’s unfortunate that anyone made this false connection”.