MTV's Popetown causes controversy in Germany
Music channel MTV responded today to criticism in Germany of its parody cartoon Popetown by saying it will broadcast only one episode for now and will consider public reaction before deciding whether to air more.
The cartoon, which depicts the Pope as a pogo-stick riding brat, has stirred protests particularly in Pope Benedict XVI’s native Bavaria. Germany’s Roman Catholic bishops have said they hope MTV changes its mind about broadcasting the show.
MTV has said the series neither disparages nor insults faiths. Today, it said it had decided that, for now, it will go ahead only with the planned screening of the first episode on May 3.
“The screening will allow viewers to form an opinion about the format, about which much is being said but which few have yet seen,” MTV Networks’ German office said in a statement.
The episode will be broadcast as part of a live discussion event with religious, media and cultural representatives among others, it added, with the public invited to participate by phone and internet.
“MTV will take into account the reactions on the issue of Popetown and then decide whether further episodes will be broadcast,” the statement said.
The BBC originally commissioned the programme but decided in 2004 not to show it after protests from church leaders. It was screened last year in New Zealand, despite a church-led campaign against the broadcaster.
The show features corrupt cardinals, a buxom nun and an infantile Pope who bounces around the Vatican on a pogo stick.
Joachim Herrmann, a senior official with Bavaria’s dominant Christian Social Union party, said yesterday he had filed a complaint with prosecutors accusing MTV of disparaging Christianity.
